
^*. 




t. 



CHRISTIAN^HEOLOGY 



DR. L Wde LAURENC E 




lassIBixS-Si 



Book_ 



Copyiight}^?. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



GOD, 



AND 



11 





^ 






Copyright, 1909. by 

DR. L. W. de LAURENCE. 

Composition and Electrotyping by 

Peterson Linotype Co., 

March, 1909. 

Published April, 1909. 



M. A. DONOHUE & Co._ 

Printers and Binders 

Chicago 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Cooies Received 

iUN 16 I8uy 

COPY a. 

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NOTICE. — This wof]^*, is protected by Copyright, and simul- 
taneous initial i5RL)lications in United States of America, 
Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, India, China and 
other countries. All rights reserved. 

ii . • ■ 



^h 



/ 




^:V- 











O that human soul 
upon the path of 
earth Hfe, who de- 
sires to learn the lesson 
Know Thyself^' as taught 
by "(The Master, Jesus, 
this volume is dedicated by 
the author. 















EFORE PUBLISHING THIS BOOK THE MANU- 
SCRIPT, WHILE IN TYPEWRITTEN FORM, WAS 
SENT TO A VERY ABLE MAN, WHO CANNOT 
BE ACCUSED OF ANY UNDUE PARTIALITY FOR 
THE PRINCIPLES ENUNCIATED IN THIS WORK, 
FOR HIS REVIEW AND OPINION, AND WE HAVE 
HIM TO THANK FOR SOME THINGS HE HAS SAID ABOUT 
THIS BOOK. 

^ HE THINKS IT * ' ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE'' 
WEAPONS WHICH CAN BE USED BY THE LAYMAN AGAINST 
THE SUPERSTITIONS AND DOGMAS SO PREVALENT TODAY. 

Q *'WE MUST," HE REMARKS, ''TAKE THIS BOOK AS 
AN INDICTMENT — AND AN INDICTMENT WITH EVIDENCE 
alleged"; AND HE SAYS, THAT IF IT HAD BEEN PUB- 
LISHED SOONER — TEN, TWENTY OR FIFTY YEARS AGO — IT 
WOULD HAVE DEALT THEOLOGY, ORTHODOXY, AND SUPER- 
STITION SUCH A SEVERE BLOW THAT THE MEN AND 
WOMEN OF TODAY WOULD HAVE HAD A BETTER KNOWLEDGE 
OF SELF-HOOD AND THE KINGDOM OF THE TRUE GOD WITHIN 
THEIR OWN SOULS THAN THEY NOW HAVE. 

^ AS FOR THE BOOK ITSELF, IT IS WELL THAT SOME 
THINGS, WHICH IT TEACHES, SHOULD BE KNOWN WHICH 
HAVE HITHERTO BEEN MORE OR LESS CONCEALED FROM 
THE MASSES. 

^ THE AUTHOR HIMSELF WILL NOT, I THINK, DISCLAIM 
THIS OBJECT IN WRITING AND PUBLISHING IT. HIS BOOKS 
HAVE BEEN WELL RECEIVED AND ARE, I BELIEVE, BEING 
WIDELY READ BY THOSE WHO OPENLY PROFESS TO HAVE 
THIS OBJECT. 

^ A PUBLICATION OF THIS NATURE WILL WORK FAR MORE 
DEEPLY AND QUIETLY THAN SENSATIONAL SPEECHES, AND 
FOR THIS REASON I DO NOT CONSIDER IT THE LESS BUT 
RATHER THE MORE FORMIDABLE. 

^ THIS PARTICULAR WORK SEEMS TO ME WELL CALCU- 
LATED AND WRITTEN TO HAVE THE EFFECT WHICH IS 
SOUGHT BY THE WRITER AND THOSE WHO FAVOR THE 
GREAT PRINCIPLES AND DOCTRINES PROCLAIMED THEREIN. 

^ IF I EXPRESS MYSELF HONESTLY I MUST DO THE 
AUTHOR THE JUSTICE TO SAY THAT HE HAS WRITTEN 
CALMLY AND TEMPERATELY, EXPRESSING AND SHOWING A 
GREAT DESIRE TO BE FAIR TOWARDS THOSE HE CRITICIZES 
AND NOT TO MISREPRESENT THEM. 

^ THERE ARE, OF COURSE, AND WILL BE, DIFFERENT IDEAS 
AND OPINIONS AS TO JUST WHAT CONSTITUTES FAIRNESS: 
BUT SO FAR AS IT CONSISTS IN AN APPEAL TO DOCUMENTS 
AND HISTORIES, NOW IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES, THE CLAIM 
IN THIS INSTANCE CANNOT BE REPUDIATED. 

PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
iv 






^^ 
















PREFACE. 

Persecutions of Theology. 

OEVAL in age with thinking 
men and women of to-day, as it 
was coexistent with the lives of 
the ancient philosophers, is the 
consideration of the question of, 
The Unity of God. At every period from 
the earliest ages of the world, human souls 
have pondered in a vain attempt to de- 
cipher the incomprehensible and intangible 
forces and powers of nature (God). 

C Vainly during the centuries, when the- 
ology, orthodoxy, (superstition) priest- 
craft and petro-paulism have stalked the 
avenues of human endeavor, following the 
lives of men and women like an infamous 
blighting shadow that never leaves them, 
intelligent investigators have taken upon 
themselves the task of learning the lesson 
** Know Thyself ^' by seeking God within 
the depths of their own soul, firmly believ- 










c^^o^^^ 





i — ^"-f\ 










GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

ing that '' God is in us, and always with 
us/' 

^ The acquisition of this knowledge is 
only to be gained by obeying the words 
which admonishes all to ^^Seek ye the 
Kingdom of God within you/' The soul 
and God are one, merged into a most di- 
vine; harmony counterparts of one grand 
whole, 

THE CHUECH IS THE SCHOOL OF SUPEESTITION, 
WHILE THE NEW GOSPEL, '^KNOW THY- 
SELF/' TEACHES MEN AND WOMEN TO SEEK 
GOD WITHIN THEIK OWN SOUL — TEACHES 
'' THE IMMANENCE OF GOD/' 

^ To be brief, those of today can be gen- 
erally divided into two denominations, or 
schools of belief, viz. : one creed which be- 
lieves in supernatural revelation and the 
Hebrew Scriptures, (theology and ortho- 
doxy), and the other school, which teaches 
and believes that God is within the soul 
and always with us, that is to say, God, 
the soul, and the Universe are One — God 
alone is life, and life and God are One, as 
God cannot essentially appertain to two. 
^ The church teaches a Gospel of super- 
stitution, and bases its teachings upon the 
Scriptures, which hold that the Hebrews 
of Palestine and Jerusalem were God's 
chosen people, and that He revealed him- 




















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY vii 

self to them in a very unusual and unique 
manner; informing us that all the belief 
and knowledge we should have, is shown 
in the Holy Bible, the sacred book of God. 
^ Intelligent investigators, who refuse to 
be overcome by the fumes of superstition 
and ancient mysticism, can most readily 
observe how pitiful it is for men and 
women to surrender their soul power 
(God), up to the teachings of theology and, 
as a consequence, go through life in a 
blind stupor and religious trance, a ready 
prey for bodily disease and mental ail- 
ments. 

*- Any sensible person believes that all 
men have ever learned in the school of 
life, is the result of intuition and experi- 
ence, and no scientific mind will accept 
the doctrine of so-called *^ truth of Scrip- 
ture '' because experience, investigation, 
and test, prove them fabulous. Every 
generation that has ever lived in the past 
ages have had its believers in the Im- 
manence of God. Their interpretation of 
God is the true and only one which will 
stand the severe test of experience, obser- 
vation and science. 

^ Every person can, of course, in mat- 
ters of faith believe as they please, as it 
is strictly a personal and private affair, 
but to preach a belief and say it must be 





















viii GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

accepted, or those who doubt it will be 
damned is beyond reason and common 
sense, especially when there is no ground 
for the belief other than that it is based 
on ancient Gk)spels which history shows to 
be spurious and forged. 

C The church denies the individual right 
to think and investigate, and the very 
minute any person doubts or questions its 
doctrines they are set upon and denounced 
as a heretic, or an infidel, and is looked 
upon in holy horror as if he were some 
criminal who needed converting by being 
subjected to the fumes of mysticism and 
theology until overcome by the blind 
stupor of superstition and orthodoxy. 

f[ Those who believe in themselves (God) 
concede the right of all minds to think, 
ponder and investigate; gives an audience 
to all students and sincere investigators; 
believing that man's faculty of intuition 
and common sense is to be appreciated and 
trusted in affairs of earth life, while the 
followers of supernatural revelations and 
Scriptural superstitions oppose and fore- 
stall all legitimate investigation, believing 
common sense and human reason are er- 
rant and that all that is known or learned 
by them, as well as the promptings of 
intuition are false doctrines which leads 
only to evil. 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY ix 

fT The church maintains that we must 
have an unfallible doctrine of ;^ inspira- 
tion and revelation'' as revealed m the 
Bible to live by. 'Tis thus we have it, to- 
day as in years past, for there has always 
been a controversy between those who 
believe God is All in All, and the church, 
which believes the opposite. 

CThe founders of Christian Theology 
ever has desired the people to become its 
dupes and slaves, and exerts every effort 
to impress them with the belief that its 
doctrines are founded upon supernatural 
revelations which are holy and infallible, 
and for centuries past it has claimed the 
right to dictate men's belief and forestall 
investigation by purporting to be the 
sacred repository of the tenets, doctrines, 
revelations, word and laws of God. 

THE CHURCH THE WHOLE AUTHORITY. 

CThe outcome of all this is that the 
individual opinions of intelligent men, the 
knowledge gained of human experience, as 
well as all discoveries by science have been 
ridiculed and belittled by the church when 
they failed to agree with this so-called 
Holy Book, which has become the law book 
and vade-mecum of all human desires and 
endeavor ; the sole and entire authority on 






















X 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



all matters and beliefs ; the Blue Book of 
Hfe, hope, science and opinion. 

Any belief or discovery which failed to 
agree with the fabulous doctrines of the 
Bible has felt the heavy cruel hand of the 
church clutching at its throat in a frantic 
attempt to throttle and kill anything that 
might keep it, the church, from having 
supreme control, and being the ultimate 
source of authority, and high court of 
appeal on all affairs and opinions; on all 
affairs of life both mortal and immortal. 
^ The result of all this is that to-day we 
find the world's foremost minds, its most 
brilliant intellects, and greatest teachers 
confronted by Christian Theology, and the 
modern church with its clan of black robed 
ministers and priests, who demand that 
all opinions, beliefs and discoveries must 
yield to their ecclesiastical authority or be 
pushed out of existence. 
^ The earth's green surface and the 
rivers' pure waters have been reddened by 
the blood of those who opposed the church 
m ages past, prefering to accept the teach- 
ings of their own soul, to those question- 
^le ones promulgated by the church. 

History shows that many great teach- 
ers and intelligent men have in the past 
known the hatred and felt the revenge of 
the church as will be seen from the follow- 
















^^' 











AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY xi 

inff, which gives the opinion of a very 
learned man on the relentless and cruel 
persecutions of the church toward those 

i^ho oppose it : — -^i i. v, 

'' Eivers were reddened with nunian 
blood because men accepted that which 
godlike reason revealed to them, rather 
than that which the doubtful authority ot 
fhurches endeavored to estabhsh as true. 
**If we recall the names of great souls 
and noble minds, from the day of Hypatia 
almost down to the age in which we live, 
we shall find that the great votaries ot 
science, the great discoverers and nijent- 
ors, were often made the objects ot the 
fhurches' hatred. o. • 

*^ Whether we visit Italy, or Spam, or 
Germany, or France, or England, or Amer- 
ica, this is only too true. When a man 
put to flight the demons of ignorance and 
defeated the devils of superstition by 
scientific discovery, the agents of these 
demons and devils called him a heretic, 
and a heretic was a felon, and a felon was 
a low criminal, and the end of the heretic 

w-as death. « , , , j 

*^ Dressed in a robe of black, covered 
with red devils and imps, the heretic was 
led to the stake, amid the hoots and yells 
and screams of the mob, sacrificed to the 
ignorance of the ruling theological class. 














GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 













PEESECUTION IN THEOLOGY S NAME. 

C** There has scarcely been an age, and 
there has scarcely been a place, in which 
a man gave to the world a new scientific 
discovery, but he was made the object of 
scorn and derision by those robed in the 
authority of the pulpit. 

C*' There has scarcely been an age in 
which a man came with a new revelation 
of scientific truth, but the hired agents of 
theology fell upon him and endeavored to 
ruin or destroy him. 

C^* There has rarely been a man who 
wrought for liberty of thought, who placed 
his discoveries upon the altar of human 
reason, but the agents of some theological 
system dogged his steps, or made him the 
object of some brutal inquisition. 

f[ **If we recall such names as those with 
which we are all familiar, such as Bruno 
and Galileo, or Kepler and Copernicus, or 
Vanini and Spencer and Tyndall, we shall 
recall the names of men who were de- 
nounced, condemned or punished, whose 
names were bespattered and whose titles 
to fame were contested by the hired agents 
of some dominant theology. 

C * * If you read Mr. Andrew D. White 's 
* History of the Warfare of Science with 
Theology,' or Dr. Draper's books, *The 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY xiii 

Intellectual Development of Europe/ and 
the 'History of the Conflict Between Re- 
ligion and Science/ you will find that the 
struggle has been age long; and it is not 
yet over. 

THE SERVICES OF SCIENCE. 

€ ** Science has been the handmaid of 
religion, although theology recognized it 
not. Science has been the friend of man, 
although his enemies would not admit it. 
Science has brought healing to the sick 
and strength to the weak. Science has 
been the great illuminator. Science has 
taken the sweat drop and, placing it under 
a boiler, has made a giant machine do the 
work of giant strength, while sparing man. 
Science has taken the lightning flashes and 
bidden them do man's work. It has added 
to the fertility of the soil. 
C *'It has added light to the day and 
made the night shorter. Science, the boon 
companion of mankind, has declared the 
glory of God, and taught us to conceive of 
Him, not as a little king sitting on a throne 
in the heavens above a blue dome made of 
glass, but as the Eternal, of whom it may 
be said, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of 
Hosts, the whole world, the whole universe, 
is full of His glory.' 
^ ''Science has been the persecuted; it 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

has never been the persecutor. Science 
has been chained; in return it has loosed 
fetters. Science has been hated ; in return 
it has done the work of love. 

' * Science has been hooted at ; in return, 
in^stentorian tones, it has announced a 
gospel of love and liberty. Science has 
never harmed a human being, never de- 
nounced a child of God, never been guilty 
of a crime. Science has understood the 
great message of the psalmist, * Because 
they regard not the works of the Lord, nor 
the operation of his hands, he shall destroy 
them, and not build them up.' 

^* Science has been the great inter- 
pm;er. It has shown us God in little things 
as well as in infinite space. With the help 
of the microscope, it has shown God to us 
in things infinite simally small; with the 
help of the telescope it has revealed God 
at the ends of the world, as it were.'' 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NOT THE DAEK 

AGES. 

The church in the years that have 
pafsed with its Eomanizing, secretive, 
evasive and traitorous priests * on one 

*If any reader thinks this language is harsh and over- 
drawn, he is advised to read Chapters 22 and 23 of this 
work, as contained in Part 3, referring to "The Secrecy 
of the Eitualistic Confessional," where he will receive 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY xv 



hand, and the ^* f rocked divines ^' of 
Protestantism on the other have doomed 
to an awful fate any who would dare ques- 
tion its doctrines; the scaffold, the dismal 
funeral pyre, the dungeon, and other tor- 
tures have been heaped upon those who 
dared differ with the religion of the 
church. 

^However, the church of to-day must 
awaken to the fact that when it tries to 
deny some of the assertions made here 
that it has a bad case to defend — at least 
as far as dealing with this book is con- 
cerned — for it must realize that its tactics 
of centuries ago will not be tolerated to- 
day, that the Dark Ages are not with us 
to-day, and that things are not now as 
then, when a priest ^s bare word was suf- 
ficient to awe a community or settle all 
disputes. 

^ Orthodoxy must not forget that we are 
about on the eve of the twentieth century 
and that there is arising a protest against 
priestcraft, theology and ancient super- 
stition which, let us all hope, will do away 
with the absurd reverence intelligent men 
and women have been paying to sacrificing 

full and authentic information concerning "Auricular 
Confession ' ' and other particulars regarding confessional 
scandals, as the ''Auricular Confession" is always a 
secret thing among priests. 


























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

priests * and f rocked divines who pose as 
God's agents, and that they will cease to 
be brought by the church, into the condi- 
tion of those of whom it is written : — 

Rome's Hook and Bridle. 

% ''THEY MUST GIVE THEIR SOULS TO TRIPLE CROWNS 

AND COPES AND SCARLET HATS; — 
THEMSELVES — AND NOT THEIR IDOLS — TO THE MOLES AND 

TO THE bats; 
THEMSELVES, THEIR HOMES AND SUBSTANCE, THEIR BODIES 

AND THEIR SOULS, 
TO THE BLIND WHO LEAD THE BLINDER — TO THE BATS AND 

TO THE MOLES. 

1[ **POR LIBERTY OF MIND AND WILL — FOR BOLD UNFET- 
TERED THOUGHT, — 

THEY MUST THINK AS THEY ARE BIDDEN, AND BELIEVE 
WHAT THEY ARE TAUGHT; 

THEY MUST SHUT THEIR EYES AND OPE THEIR EARS, FAST 
BOUND BY SLAVISH LAWS, 

ROME'S HOOK WITHIN THEIR NOSTRILS, AND HER BRIDLE 
ON THEIR JAWS/' 

—Walter Walsh. 

*If the reader cares to learn how men and women fall 
prostrate at the feet of priests, fearing the eye and 
voice of these individuals, let him read "The Power and 
Dignity of Sacrificing Priests," as contained in Part 
Three of this work. 








§^ 








EDITS FUTURE LIFE 
OUT OF GOSPELS 



Du Sharman of \J* of C* De- 
clares Jesus Never Uttered 
Teachings Credited to Him* 



BOOK ISSUED BY COLLEGE 



Declarations Regarding Im- 
mortality and Eternal Punish- 
ment Called Interpolations* 



Dr. Henry Burton Sharman, instructor in 
Biblical and patristic Greek at the Univer- 
sity of Chicago, has published, on the Uni- 
versity of Chicago press, a book in which 
he disputes the authenticity of nearly every 
utterance attributed to Jesus in the New 
Testament dealing with eternal life. 

Coming from John D. Rockefeller's pet 
university, the book is sure to create a pro- 
found sensation. The title of it is "The 
Teaching of Jesus About the Future." 

Dr. Sharman says that Jesus did not 
promise eternal reward or eternal punish- 
ment ; tliat he did not institute the Lord's 
supper or the rite of baptism ; that he did 
not promise to come again in glory and 
power and that he never said "There shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

After a profound, and oftentimes in- 
volved, study of the three gospels, Mat- 
thew. Mark and Luke, in which his attitude 
is that of the hermeneutist as well as the 
higher critic. Dr. Sharman gives it as his 
conclusion that virtually all of Jesus' sup- 
posed utterances regarding futurity, as un- 
derstood in its religious sense, are mere edi- 
torial interpolations of the authors of the 
gospels. 

DISCUSSES HIS ASSERTIONS. 
"Jesus did not promise eternal reward 
or eternal punishment." said Dr. Sharman 
in an interview last night, summing up the 



conclusions to which his study has led him 
and which are rather submerged in the 
analys'is of the book. * , 

' "In all that he said and all that he 
laught he was remarkably reticent on this 
po,int. His answer to the Sadducees when 
they asked him if there was a resurrection 
after d«>ath T believe to be genuine, but in 
that instance he specifically stated that 
there was no resurrection of the body and 
that eternal life would not be life accord- 
ing to our conception of the term. 

"Matthew and Luke were not produced 
by eye witnesses, but by men who utilized 
written material already in existence. Com- 
parison shows that in many cases the re- 
ports of what Jesus said have been affected 
by the thoughts of the age in which they 
were produced. Practicallj- all the passages 
in the synoptic gospels that sketch the 
Day of Judgment can be shown by compara- 
tive study to be nongenuine utterances. 

"Those passages in which Jesus is re- 
puted to have asserted that He would be 
present with His disciples after He had 
left the earth are apparently not from Je- 
sus, but are the expression of the experience 
of his disciples, and these experiences may 
be otherwise explained than as due to 
Jesus." 

UTTERANCES CALLED SPURIOUS. 

On pages 205-0 of the book Dr. Sharman 
gives a reconstruction of the final discourse 
of Jesus, in which he sets out in separate 
columns such portions of it as he considers 
interpolations or editorial utterances. Here 
are some of the utterances which he sets 
down as spurious. 

"But first must he suffer many things 
and be rejected of his generation." 

"Whosoever shall seek to gain his life 
shall lose it ; but whosoever shall lose his 
life shall preserve it." 

"Watch, therefore, for ye know not the 
day nor the hour." 

"And the gospel must first be preached 
unto all the nations." 

"But that he endureth to the end, the 
same shall be saved." 

"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

"Take ye heed, wntch and pray." 

Dr. Sharman declined to commit himself 
as to his views on the divinity of Christ, 
or on any other phase of his life and work 
"not properly within the scope of the book." 
He has been at the university founded by 
John D. Rockefeller for two years. He was 
graduated from the I'niversity of Toronto 
in 1891 and took a doctor's degree three 
years ago. 

— From the Chicatjo Examiner. 



Puts Religion 
In Dodo Class 

That the rehgions of orthodoxy are as 
obsolete as the Dodo, so far as their ap- 
plicability to everyday existence in a 
working world is concerned, is the start- 
ling assertion made by Professor George 
Burman Foster in his new book, "The 
Function of Religion in Man's Struggle 
for Existence," which is off the presses 
today. 

Blind, unreasoning religious dogma is 
declared to be the cause of grievous moral 
injury inflicted by the churches on the 
men of today, the former upholding an- 
cient fable as fact and picturing the God 
of the universe as the Bible God of the 
Book of Genesis. 

The book is likely to create as wide a 
discussion in and out of the ministry as 
was caused three years ago when the same 
author's "The Finality of the Christian 
Religion" attacked the authority of the 
church. Calls God a Symbol. 

Professor Foster says that God is a sym- 
bol to designate God in ideal-achieving 
capacity, also that: 

1. God was made by man — not man 
by God. 

2. Modern people who do not go to 
church often remain away, not because 
they are bad, but because they are good. 

3. God did not create the world by 
magic — nothing was ever made from 
nothing. 

4. The orthodox idea of religion must 
be relegated to the clairvoyant, the as- 
trologer, the card reader and the spirit- 
ualist. 

5. Modern experience would not cre- 
ate the trinity God of the church any 
more than it would the Messiah of the 
primitive Christian community. 

6. I am now trying to show the 
church that it has been on the wrong 

j track with its instinct of self-preservation 



dogging the steps of 'science — with its 
love for dogma rather than its love for 

Strays From Humanism. 

Professor Foster declares that becaiise 
of the worship of dogma in the pulpits of 
the world religion has come to be clerical- 
ism far more than humanism, and adds: 

"It is for this reason that there has 
grown up in many circles something akin 
to contempt for the three words, 'church,' 
'sermon,' 'dogmatics.' 

"Church — a whited sepulcher, full of 
dead men's bones, a place where death is 
treated as though it were life and life as 
though it were death. 

"Preaching — proof that there are still 
such things as sounding brass and clang- 
ing cymbals. 

"Dogmatics — that science whose only 
right to be is that men may see what a 
science ought not to be; that science 
which clarifies what the heart would fain 
keep as a mystery and mystifies what the 
head would fain clarify. 

Conflicts in the Bible. 

" 'I am a Bible believer. My faith is 
the faith of the Bible.' That is a com- 
mon boast. But precisely what does it 
mean? Is there a single sharply defined 
unitary faith in the Bible that you can 
appropriate? He who calls himself a Bi- 
ble believer has not weighed his words. 
He must choose from among the Bible 
faiths that which he wants. There is not 
a single Bible believer today among the 
theologians, because they know the con- 
tents of the Bible, and thus they know 
how often the faith of the Bible changes 
and how often new and old fight each 
other. 

"In one way and another men have so 
long regarded human nature as damned 
that any opposition to the view is re- 
garded as iconoclastic. But from all this 
paralyzing pessimism we must conquer 
some honor for the human capacity of in- 
itiative and achievement, 

"There is only one thing that will save 
religion — that is, the freedom of rehgion — 
the freedom of faith. This alone is the 
inner living religion of the heart," 

— From the Chicago American. 







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PART TWO. 
INTRODUCTION. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Kingdom of Satanas. 

How poor are the thrones of the kings, if 
we compare them with those majestic heri- 
tages or powers within the soul to which 
all may happily aspire. How contemptible 
are the biblical books, with their absurdi- 
ties and cruelties and frightful pictures, if 
we contrast them with the original teach- 
ing of The Master, Jesus. Who that is in 
his senses will believe that there was a first 
and a second and a third day, with evening 
and morning without sun, moon, and stars, 
and the first without a heaven! And who 
is such an idiot as to believe that God, like 
a husbandman, planted trees in paradise in 
Eden, towards the east, and planted a tree 
of life in it, a visible and palpable tree, so 
that anyone eating of it should receive 


















life; and again, by eating of another tree 
should receive knowledge of good and evil ? 
And as for God being said to walk in para- 
dise, with Adam being hid under a tree, I 
conceive that no man doubts that these 
things are said by scripture in a figurative 
sense. Yet bishops and priests who are 
editing what is called ^^The Speaker's 
Commentary on the Bible'' treat them all 
as dry, hard, literal facts, and no fables 
at all. It is melancholy to think that so 
many millions, in what is called *^an en- 
lightened age, ' ' should be gravely asked by 
high prelates and dignitaries to believe in 
such fables; but so it is. We are taught 
to put faith in the most foolish nonsense 
of the past ages, because, forsooth, the 
Jews are said to have believed it. Yet, 
what did their belief achieve! So shocking 
were the corruptions which that cancerous 
creed was scattering widely in the days of 
Jesus, as petro-paulism is at present, that 
the Basilidians held that the God of the 
Jews was Satanas himself, all whose favor- 
ites were the most infamous of mankind; 
that to subvert his power, one of the Celes- 
tial ^ons was sent by the Supreme being 


























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 7 

to enter into the body of the man Jesus in 
the shape of a dove; and that Jesus thus 
conquered the Kingdom of Satanas. 

UNITY OF GOD. 

There is only One God. He is Uncreated 
and Infinite; and He alone can say, I am 
He that is. Hie is Life; because He is 
everything ; He alone is Life ; Life is One, 
and it cannot essentially appertain to two, 
otherwise there would be two gods. 

Unless God were One, the Universe could 
not have been created or preserved. The 
Universe is a coherent and uniform work 
from first to last, and depends upon God, 
as does the body upon the soul. It is so 
created that God may be everywhere pres- 
ent, and keep the whole and all its parts 
under His government and observation. 

THE INFINITY OF GOD. 

As the mind, in the course of Philoso- 
phizing, peers into and courses over finite 
Nature, it cannot but at last arrive at the 
utterly Unknown and Inexplicable, that is, 
at the Infinite ; and, as the Infinite is iden- 
tical with the nonfinite, the mind there 







( 























stops; there finds an insurmountable and 
impenetrable difficulty, a Gordian knot. 
The Philosopher, then, by a thousand curi- 
ous efforts labors to know what the Infinite 
can be ; what the Infinite God is like ; what 
can be the nature of an Essence without 
end or boundary ; and what that Something 
is, of the qualities of which Philosophy is 
doomed to perpetual ignorance; whether 
the Infinite is identical with the divine; 
whether there be aught in Nature which 
can be said to be Infinite; whether the 
Infinite is beyond Nature, and whether the 
qualities of the Infinite are to be discov- 
ered by means of Nature. The Philosopher, 
impatient to solve the difficulty, whets his 
mind, consults all the oracles of Reason, 
and collects a thousand arguments from 
his Memory. Yet it will be observed that 
the Philosopher, his Eeason, his Memory, 
and all the powers and knowledge he can 
command, are Finite, and being Finite, 
can make no approach to the Infinite. He 
may come, indeed, to the conclusion that 
Nature and God are One, but that is to 
deny the Infinite, for Nature is Finite. I 
will admit, he continues, that by no com- 












^^ 
















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 

parison with things Finite, and by no 
similitude, and by no force or faculty of 
the understanding can we penetrate into 
the Divine Infinity. I will also go further 
and grant that not even Angels can pene- 
trate to the Infinity of God. To narrow 
the discussion, he asks his reader to accept 
the conclusion that in Nature the Infinite 
is impossible. Nature is composed of 
Finites, and Finites, though multiplied in- 
definitely, can never become Infinite. Ad- 
mitting, then, that the Universe, Nature 
or Creation, is finite, he next inquires, by 
whom was the Universe created, caused, or 
finited ! If it be answered that Nature cre- 
cated or originated itself, a reply is made 
which is repugnant to Eeason; for that is 
saying that it existed before it did exist; 
that it created itself. If it be said that 
God created Nature, and God be thought 
of as finite, the question is not answered, 
but evaded or deferred; for if God be 
finite, we renew our inquiry and ask, by 
whom was God finited, created, or caused? 
We have here the child's question, follow- 
ing the instruction that God made him: 
*^Then who made God"?" Thus driven in- 



N — t 




















10 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



wards from Finite to Finite, from Cause 
to Cause, we are at last compelled to stop 
and own a first and Original canse, un- 
caused and unfinite, and therefore Infinite. 

HOW GOD BECOMES VISIBLE. 

God is Infinite, and the Human mind 
cannot discover what is the quality of the 
Infinite. We can only define it as the 
Infinite All, and that is subsists in itself, 
and is thereby the Very and the One only 
Substance ; and since nothing is predicable 
of the substance unless it be a form, that 
the Infinite is also the very and the one 
only Form. It is vain, then, to desire to 
know God in His Esse or in His Substance. 
It is enough to acknowledge Him from 
things Finite — that is, from things created, 
in which He infinitely is. These passages 
should satisfy even metaphysicians. Now 
comes the question. If none can see God, 
how does Swedenborg explain His mani- 
festation to himself? Thus: Though 
God, inasmuch as He is Infinite, transcends 
finite apprehension, He conjoins Himself 
with Humanity through finite appearances. 













AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 



11 













He is seen by the Angels as the Sun of 
Heaven, the Source of their heat and light. 
Ever apparent to their eyes as a Sun, yet 
when they think interiorly, they do not 
think of God otherwise than in themselves. 
Let not anyone cherish the error that the 
Lord is among the Angels as a king is in 
his kingdom. To appearance He is in the 
Sun above them, but as to reality He is in 
them. 

They who do not think beyond the sense 
of the letter cannot believe otherwise than 
that the Creation described in the first and 
second chapters of Genesis means the Cre- 
ation of the Universe ; and that within six 
days sky,* and earth, and Sea, and all 



*The number of stars seen by the naked eye may be 
about 4,000; but when the telescope is turned upon them, 
the blue depths are sown with light, and, like the par- 
ticles of dust rendered visible by a sun-beam, stars flash 
upon the glass. Each little space is a kingdom of glory. 
In whatever direction the telescope is directed, a spangled 
vault seems to fill it. Each star, though presenting a 
mere point of light to the eye, is believed to be a sun of 
magnitude, perhaps, equal to our own, and accompanied 
by a planetary system of which it is the centre. Ac- 
cording to Sturve's most recent investigations, the ve- 
locity of light is 166,072 geographical, or about 192,000 
English miles a second; consequently about a million 
times greater than the velocity of sound. From a Cen- 
tauri, 16 Cygni, and a Lyrae, a ray of light requires re- 
spectively o, 94, and 12 years to reach us from these 





















12 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



things therein and Men in the likeness of 
God, were created; but who cannot see 
that the Creation of the Universe is not 
there intended. Common sense might teach 
that the operations there described were 
impossible; as that there were days and 
light, and darkness, and green herbs, and 
fruitful trees, before the appearance of 
the Sun and Moon. Similar difficulties fol- 
low which are scarcely credited by anyone 
who thinks interiorly; as that the Woman 
was built from the rib of the Man; that 
two Trees were set in Paradise, and the 
fruit of one forbidden to be eaten ; that the 
Serpent discoursed with the Wife of the 
Man, who was the wisest of mortals, and 
deceived them both, and that the universal 

bodies. The time required for light to travel from the 
nearest fixed star is estimated by Herschell at 34 years. 
Yet the writer of Genesis tells us that God created the 
heaven and the earth, including man, whom he created in 
his own image; male and female created he them. "Thus 
the heavens and all the earth were finished, and all the 
host of them." (Gen. 2-1.) God did all this in just exact- 
ly six days, so the individual who wrote these fables in- 
forms us, for on the seventh day he ended his work and 
rested. In the very next verse the writer contradicts 
himself by saying God proceeded to bless the seventh 
day, and sanctified it. 

This contradicts the statement about his resting, for 
if he blessed the seventh day he must have been quite 
busy and did not rest. 




















Human Race was on that account con- 
demned to Hell. 

FREE-WILL IN ALL EXISTENCES. 

Free-will given to man is found in all the 
animated and inanimated beings of nature ; 
and without it there would be no genera- 
tion. If animals had not a choice of the 
means for generating and preserving their 
young, there would be no animals. The 
analogy of liberty is equally found in 
seeds, and in the earth which receives them 
into her bosom. It is by the same faculty, 
by this choice of what is suitable, that the 
attraction of similar parts is effected in 
stones, metals, salts, etc. They breathe 
or pump the air which is proper for them ; 
they freely unite themselves with parts 
that are suitable to them, and reject others. 
Man was not treated worse than the in- 
ferior beings of nature; he is free from 
the hour of his birth to that of his death, 
and afterwards during the everlasting. The 
remorse and regret for having committed 
evil or for having neglected to do good, 
are proofs of liberty; and man is capable 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

of knowing the nature of his liberty, 
whether it be from ignoiance or from 
knowledge. He may know by the pleasure 
he experiences in the exercise of his lib- 
erty, for all pleasure comes from man liv- 
ing in harmony with the laws of his being. 

THE INHEEENT GOD. 

He who believes that God is Immanent is 
a worshiper of all above him, and all 
around him. As the skies, the woods, the 
waters, are his books and tutor, they also 
form his oracles and his divinities. Per- 
vaded by some Spiritual Essence, every 
leaf that rustles in the forest, quite as 
much as the great orbs that move in silent 
majesty across the firmament, conveys to 
him a message from the Inherent God. 

The threatening cloud, the genial shower, 
the lightning, thunder, and the northern 
aurora, flowers of every hue, and animals 
of every shape and species, are alike re- 
garded as instinct with supernatural vir- 
tue, and as fitted to enkindle in the human 
heart the sentiments of awe or love, of 
adoration or of deprecation. 

























The followers of Christian Theology see 
in this sublime confraternity between all 
living things, between the flower, the moon, 
and the star, only that dreaded thing. Pan- 
theism; but who will deny that in thus 
bringing the soul and spirit into direct 
communication with all the beautiful ex- 
istent works of the Supreme, the religion 
which achieves so great a result is far 
superior to that stolid, sensual, supersti- 
tious Petro-Paulism now prevalent, which 
reduces its believers to a condition of hard- 
ened and idiotic selfishness, akin to that of 
grim ferocity? 

The mountain tribes of Armenia, accord- 
ing to Layard, still worship venerable oaks, 
great trees, huge solitary rocks, and other 
grand features of Nature. Compare a 
common Eed Indian, or Armenian moun- 
taineer pantheist, as described above, with 
a common Orthodox Protestant in Amer- 
ica, and how infinitely superior is the first. 

The one communes with Nature in her 
silent grandeur, in her glorious features; 
the other thinks but of his dreaded super- 
stitions. But even this divine sympathy 
with life universal, which thus so exquis- 













itely exists in these untutored Children of 
the Forest, as it does through Hindostan, 
is subordinated, as Prescott says, to the 
sublime conception of One Great Spirit, 
the Creator of the Universe. 














GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

AND 

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 

PART THREE. 

CHAPTER II. 

Paganism and Orthodoxy. 

Is there any thinking man alive, unless 
he be a Darwinian, and self-consciously the 
son of a gorilla, who is not sometimes intu- 
itively certain that originally he was some- 
thing better, higher, nobler, than he now 
is 1 Who does not feel within him dreams, 
hopes, splendid soaring fancies, glorious 
and heroic aspirations, reminiscences, as it 
were, of celestial gleams and glimpses as 
far uplifted above his mortal condition as 
the stars of Heaven themselves 1 

And the reason why this consciousness 
and faith in God (self) is not stronger 
within men is that it is sedulously drilled 

17 


















rr 







out of them as they grow up, and are edu- 
cated by parsons and pedagogues in the 
narrow views that encircle them from their 
cradle ; and hence it is assumed that we are 
not conscious of our powers, whereas, in 
truth, we are only not conscious because 
we have been molded to be so. 

If an English or an American child were 
brought up in perfect ignorance of the 
laws, the annals, the records, of his country 
and her people ; of a future state, would it 
be fair to accuse him when he has grown 
to man's estate of not being *^ conscious" 
of that which he ought to have known and 
appreciated but which his ignorant or bar- 
barous guardians sedulously prevented 
him from knowing at all? Equally unfair 
is it to use the fact against the reality of 
the powers of self (God). 

But this assumed unconsciousnes is only 
partially true in the little truth that be- 
longs to it. It may be alleged with some 
show or reason of an European or an 
American, whose intellectual growth in all 
matters of Theology is dwarfed from the 
bud; but it cannot be advanced with any 
verity so far as it regards one who be- 























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 19 

lieves in the ^ ^ Immanence of God/* with 
whom the doctrine of belief in self (God) 
is as positive, and as self-evident a trnth 
as any other that he knows. 

One who has been educated in the East 
(Orient) is conscious of it, because from 
his earliest years he has imbibed it among 
his primal lessons ; and he adheres to it as 
one of those sacred principles of whose 
divine certainty he is as convinced as he 
can be of any that he can attain to, by a 
process of reasoning, aided by a high de- 
gree of self-knowledge. 

The western biblical, who ignores this 
ennobling truth, is as great an object of 
compassion or contempt to him as he no 
doubt is a theme for laughter to the sage, 
enlightened by the Thirty-Nine Articles, 
who rates his perfections so highly that he 
thinks he can have but newly come from 
the hand of the All-Perfect, and fondly 
looks upon himself as one of His latest 
and most improved fabrics, though he must 
in the same breath own that he is nearly all 
weakness, ignorance and superstition, and 
an easy prey of disease and mental trouble. 

Nor are they less mad who hold, with the 














/ 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



modern skeptics, that so far from an arch- 
angelic original, they are lineal descend- 
ants of parrots, oysters, or monkeys, de- 
veloped by some wonderful process of ab- 
surdity into Hunts, Darwins, and such like. 

The weakness or falsehood of the argu- 
ment is not confined to this particular 
alone. It is utterly derogatory to the true 
idea of God that He punishes us individu- 
ally as a magistrate would, because we 
have sinned. God does not punish anyone ; 
but the Laws of God enact, and the Viceroy 
Nemesis sees, that all Evil punishes itself, 
and thus Evil works its own cure, by con- 
vincing the criminal that he is foolish in 
his errors. 

Men are perpetually punished for that 
of which they are not conscious, and God 
has nothing to do with it ; though men are 
ready enough to say that it pleased Al- 
mighty God. A man goes to sea in a leaky 
ship, but he has no knowledge of the fact ; 
he is punished by being drowned. 

What has God to do with this? A man 
rides a vicious horse and does not know 
that it is vicious, and he is killed; or he 
walks into a beautiful country, and is not 











■y[ 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



aware that poisonous exhalations are 
wafted from its flowers or grasses, or that 
asps are hidden in its roses, and so he per- 
ishes. What has God to do with this? 
The man suffers in a state of unconscious- 
ness; but the unconsciousness is in most 
cases his own fault. If he were wise he 
would have learned the condition of the 
ship, the nature of the steed, the character 
of the country. 

He has neglected to seek out this in- 
formation, and he suffers for his neglect. 
In the same way it is his duty to inquire 
why it is that he is a man ; why he suffers ; 
what is the nature of God (the power 
within him) ; what is the scheme of his 
laws and polity; whether He permits suf- 
fering without a reason; whether He de- 
lights to afflict and punish individually. If 
He does all this, He will then be satisfied 
of his Immanent Power, and will begin to 
know in part the object of his earth life. 

The fact is, that the average man does 
not seek the Kingdom of God within. He 
immerses himself voluntarily in ignorance 
and absurdities; he envelops his head in 
clouds and mists; he gives himself up to 




T|1S» 

























22 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



another man to think and judge for him; 
he seeks a priest, and asks him what he 
shall believe ; he justifies himself by faith ; 
he pursues gold, or power, or pleasure, 
with all the energies and lusts of his igno- 
rant soul, or he persuades himself that he 
is in reality a tailless monkey, unconnected 
with The Immanent God or the Immortals, 
and then he cries out that he never knew 
he was at any time anything higher than 
a mere man, or a poor ape, or a worm in 
the dust. A disciple of Darwin ^s. 

Of course he does not know that God 
lies within the depths of his own soul, be- 
cause he never cared or sought to know it ; 
like many dyed-in-the-wool Protestants, he 
does not like to unsettle his ^ 'faith"; and 
if he ignorantly exclaims against God, and 
denounces Him as a Devil for condemning 
him to the many miseries which beset mor- 
tals, he may be prepared to hear it an- 
swered in thunder : ' ^ The miseries which 
you endured you should know are just ; and 
due to your ignorance, but you never 
sought to know or to inquire ; why then do 
you cry out against the ravages of disease 
and decay when you should rather blame 

























AND CHEISTIAN" THEOLOGY 



23 



your own negligence and yonr own queru- 
lousness, in supposing that an angry God 
would afflict the innocent, or suffer the vir- 
tuous ever to be unhappy?" Nature (God) 
does not excuse us when we allow the tree 
of superstition and ignorance to thrive 
over that of Wisdom. The Immanent God 
within the soul, or animating essence, being 
thus known, together with the laws that 
regulate the rise and fall of physical well- 
being, it can excite no surprise that phi- 
losophers should have been equally well 
acquainted with the ordinances that gov- 
ern its nature and thereby live to a great 
age. 

^ ^ The Kingdom of God is Within You' ' — 
a belief once profoundly entertained by the 
greatest, best, and wisest men, and the 
cherished faith of whole nations when phil- 
osophical ideas of God (Self), the Soul 
Eternity, and man's physical wellbeing 
were far more perfect than at present, 
seems to have almost perished from Eu^ 
rope and America, and is now preserved 
only in certain parts of the East, from 
which, as all knowledge originally came, 
so it would seem that all true knowledge 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



likewise is destined to revert, unless the 
men and women of this country establish 
a mighty Brotherhood of True Christian 
Masters who are something more than 
religious puppets. 

Yet it is a belief founded on all reason, 
and on all enlightened notions of God's 
universality and benevolence; and it is 
strengthened by the wonderful results ob- 
tained by those who believe in themselves 
rather than in the unknown God of the 
Hebrews. 

Few men are there, of those who think at 
all, who have not at times in the midst of 
lovely or beautiful scenery, or amid the 
sublime wilderness of the ocean, been sud- 
denly impressed with the conviction, strong 
and thrilling, that they were a part of the 
great whole. 

The impression is too powerful — I may 
add, is too general — to be that of fancy 
only; and there is no doubt whatever that 
all power to help is inherent throughout all 
that exists. But all this is laughed at in 
the West, where superstition and igno- 
rance reign amid the dismal splendors of 
Orthodoxy. 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 










'^^ 



When an Orthodox European of the 
ordinary type is questioned as to his fu- 
ture, he answers unhesitatingly that in the 
resurrection of the dead, or the future life, 
he hopes to have the same body of blood, 
bones, organs, and intestines that he pos- 
sessed here, and that this material mass of 
corruption, again collected from winds and 
waters, from trees, grasses, birds, from 
fishes, worms, and beasts, will be endued 
with an immortal energy that will keep 
it sound and strong forever. 

As God gives no organs that are without 
their use, it follows from this that man 
will eat, drink, digest, excrete, generate, 
and sleep, in the celestial spheres — a 
grosser idea than any that has ever been 
attributed either to ^'benighted Pagans'' 
or to the Mohammedan paradise by those 
western doctors of the church who have, 
upon the least possible shadow of evidence, 
assigned the wildest figments to the in- 
spired and glorious Prophet of Arabia. 

And as this material body will enjoy ma- 
terial — that is, sensual — pleasures in 
Heaven, if its owner be a believer in the 
atoning blood of Jesus, or have eaten and 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

drank him on a sufficient number of sacra- 
ment Sundays, so those who obstinately re- 
ject all such mediations, or like the sinful 
Jews, think that a cock slain, a goat azazel, 
or a crucified infant, is of equal value, will 
descend with their fleshly incubus into a 
place of hideous torment; into fire and 
brimstone, where mocking devils with iron 
prongs toss them from flame to flame; 
where they are slowly devoured by worms 
that never die, and where they incessantly 
call out for a drop of water to cool their 
tongues, parched and swollen, while de- 
mons jeer them, and Abraham placidly an- 
swers that they may thirst on. Such are 
the teachings of Christian Theology. 

But in the primal Theology no such dark 
abomination was known or would be en- 
dured; it was the invention of the priests 
who instituted saint and devil worship; 
and with saint and devil worship and in- 
numerable series of cognate falsehoods, 
which they have transmitted unimpaired 
to their successors in the faith. The an- 
cients held that the same laws which regu- 
lated the condition of the lapsed spirit be- 
fore it came on earth guided and governed 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



27 



it, by the like analogies, after it had left 
the earth. 

As every iramortal soul is free, so every 
man on earth is free to rise above or sink 
beneath his condition of humanity. The 
sage who feeds his thoughts with luminous 
dreams of the Divine, who separates him- 
self from the selfish, sensual, groveling, or 
adder-like or wolfish crowd, and, content 
with little, employs his life in learning, 
teaching, and diffusing good ; who fixes not 
his all in earthly prosperity, but, satisfied 
with life, uses life only for purposes of 
self-improvement, self-purification, and 
general utility to others, irrespective abso- 
lutely of his own worldly gains, and who 
follows Virtue for her own beautifulness 
only, is as certainly superior to the ordi- 
nary tribes of Orthodox Christians, and 
therein approaches nearly to the excellence 
of an angelic spirit, as the drunkard or the 
glutton, the thief or the assassin, the liar 
or the seducer, the hypocrite and double- 
tongued, is below the standard of human 
nature, and ceasing to be a man, approxi- 
mates to the condition of a venomous, or 
filthy, or cunning, beast of prey. 






















m 






GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



But the wretched man who, while on 
earth, has deliberately plunged into the 
gloom of superstitions and myths, that I 
have enumerated, must descend into a con- 
dition of life that is in unison with his 
corporeal and ignorant ^'beliefs,'' and 
there he must continue until he desires to 
be readmitted into his true condition as a 
man, with all those faculties renewed that 
can elevate him from a weak man into a 
more august form of being. 

With the desire to rise, the will comes, 
and with the will the (belief) energy that 
uplifts; and thus every creature's condi- 
tion, whether he be on earth, or in the 
various Spheres, depends absolutely on 
his own excellence or his own negation of 
excellence. 

This, it will be seen, is in precise har- 
mony with all the physical laws of nature, 
that we behold in exercise around us every 
day ; it is founded on exact justice, and reg- 
ulated by the most divine impartiality; it 
has nothing to do with hells or devils, 
which do not and cannot exist anywhere, 
except in this sense, that every place that 
is not peaceful and just may be regarded 






'§^^ 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



as Hell, inasmuch as it is to some extent 
a place of suffering or trial ; and everyone 
who is not absolutely a ministering spirit 
of love or knowledge in the active service 
of the Supreme may be regarded as un- 
blest, inasmuch as he is excluded from that 
true Wisdom which belongs only to the 
wise. HENCE AROSE TEE TRUTH OF: 
^^ The Lord thy God in the midst of thee 
is mighty/^ 

''I have told you ye are Gods.'' 
^'The Kingdom of God is within you J' 
'^ The Father is in me, I in Him and we 
in you,'' 

^^Ye are the temple of the living God." 
'^God is Spirit, and they that worship 
Him in spirit and in truth." 

'^ Seek ye the Kingdom of God within 
you." 

^'For in Him we live, and move, and 
have our being." 

As taught by ''THE MASTER, 
JESUS," which same being true in the 
sense that I have unfolded it in my pre- 
vious volume, 




rxT 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 
^^THE IMMANENCE OF GOD'' 



IS ENTIRELY ABSURD IN THE 
SENSE GENERALLY ENTERTAINED 
BY PROTESTANTS. ''THE IMMA- 
NENCE OF GOD^'MEANS THIS: THAT 
EVERY SOUL MUST SEEK THE 
KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN ITSELF, 
''BELIEVE IN ITSELF/' HAVE EN- 
TIRE AND ENDURING FAITH IN GOD 
{THE POWER WITHIN THEM). TO 
THOSE THAT HAVE FAITH IN GOD 
[THEMSELVES), IT {HEALTH, 
PEACE, COMFORT, AND PHYSICAL 
WELLBEING) SHALL BE ADDED UN- 
TO THEM. BUT THOSE WHO HAVE 
NO TRUE FAITH IN GOD {THE 
POWER WITHIN THEIR OWN SOUL), 
EVEN THAT WHICH THEY HAVE 
SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY. 

It never did, and never could, mean that 
a man who is superstitious, destitute of 
self-confidence, cringing like a frightened 
creature, living in the yellow and false 
light of Orthodoxy and Dogmatic The- 
ology, can ever rise above his conditions 
or overcome disease and adversity. 










nr 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



The churches have always taken care to 
most fraudulently misrepresent it ; and in 
this aspect it is not popularly received by 
the Orthodox of Europe and America, who 
insist upon mixing the teachings of Jesus 
with the superstitions of the Old Testa- 
ment. 

Men and women who believe in them- 
selves are more fully developed, so as to 
make their soul powers harmonize with 
their growth in existence. In like manner 
the soul that has enslaved itself to super- 
stition and taken pride in cunning, or been 
lustful after gold, or titles, and has grov- 
eled in corruption, and has brutalized all 
its finer instincts in swinery, or wolfism, 
or serpentine or sycophantic habits, sub- 
sides into an order of life lower than that 
in which it had before appeared, and is at- 
tached to a medium for its new mode of 
being which will best suit or gratify the 
propensities it has acquired. 

The Orthodox Christian of course dis- 
sents from teachings which tell men to be- 
lieve in themselves (God), and if he does 
not believe in it he plunges those who do 






















into a burning Lake of hell* from which 
they can never again emerge, where their 
punishment can serve no purificatory end, 
and can tend to no purpose of example, but 
where they writhe forever, as if to gratify 
the vengeance that seems inherent in their 
fancied God of the Hebrews. The papist, 
who is no more charitable, instead of teach- 
ing a true religion, sends the soul into pur- 
gatory, from which a few masses, bought 
by dollars, will probably release it, without 
any excellence of its own, or any feeling 
of repentance, or any effort at amendment, 
Beflection can hardly fail to satisfy anyone 
that the ancient belief is more philosophic 
than the modern; and as it is more in 
analogy with all the other acknowledged 
laws of the Immanent God, and is in every 
way more consonant to our nature, it re- 
quires but the exercise of reason to admit 
it into the mind as an enduring truth, 
while the other alternative (Orthodoxy) is 
horrible to think of and shocking to be- 
lieve. 



*Out of hell, says one of the saints, there is no re- 
demption. And see Mark ix. 48. This doctrine seems 
to have been taken from Virgil, ^neid vi. 126-9. 



sf— •vr-*^< 



\f 





€^<)^^^ 





























Modern notions upon the present and 
future condition of man are, therefore, 
freely borrowed from Paganism in its most 
debased condition; the priests have not 
ascended to the primal fountains from 
which all truth flowed. Had they done so, 
they would not have polluted Christianity 
with their Dogma of Hell, Demons, and fire 
unending; a dogma that has made infidels 
and sufferers in great numbers, and could 
only operate upon the lowest minds; a 
dogma also utterly adverse to all true con- 
ceptions of the Divine power within man, 
which never frightens men into excellence, 
but rather wills to lead them by the sur- 
passing beauty of excellence itself to a per- 
fect physical and mental condition. 

And if the Wise Masters teach these 
truths in words and terms that are plain 
and blunt, which will convey to the mind 
a deeper meaning than the superstitious 
symbols of the Virgin Mary, Jesus on a 
metal cross, and allegory, which it should 
be remembered are always used metaphor- 
ically and must never be taken to the strict 
letter, though this is what the priests of 
error always do; and this is what their 



















rr 









GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



hoodwinked followers suffer them to do 
with impunity, by surrendering up their 
own reason to the reason of such guides, 
and employing themselves wholly in the 
pursuit of gain, the chase after pleasure, 
or the glorification of self. 

GOD WITHIN THE SOUL. 

Whoever indeed has meditated on the 
nature of his soul, or rather his spirit, 
for the soul is merely the medium by which 
the vital and immortal spirit is connected 
with the body, cannot avoid coming to the 
conclusion that it has lying within itself 
some grand and Divine Power, and that it 
is created of God, and eifused into matter, 
not to be punished merely because it 
pleased an angry God. 

For I suppose it will not be denied that 
to confine a soul in ignorance and darkness 
is a punishment of that soul. The vulgar 
and popular belief is of course the one 
which represents God to be unjust, and 
cruel, and despotic; and which degrades 
the spirit as much as possible, supposing 
it to be formed by the credulity of human 
parents ; but as this idea is scarcely worthy 






















of a thinking man, so I beg that any of 
my readers who entertains it will lay aside 
my book at once, for he is not fit to specu- 
late on the matter which it contains; 
neither is he sufficiently advanced to study 
the great principles taught in ^ ^ The Imma- 
nence of God/' 

What has become of the innumerable 
millions of souls which in mortal shape 
have developed themselves on earth since 
it first was peopled with life? Many of our 
Petro-Paulite friends hold that they are 
in a state of coma or collapse, and that 
they must so continue until the Day of 
General Judgment, which for aught that 
is really known may be a thousand million 
years off. 

But if every soul be regarded as an 
energy, or a force, we know well that Na- 
ture utilizes everything with the most rigid 
exactness, and She who will not suffer even 
a lump of mud or dirt to lie unproductive 
is not likely to permit so glorious and 
active an essence as the spirit and soul are 
to remain paralyzed; shut up as it were 
for ages of ages in a charnel-house of dead 
awaiting the judgment day when all sin- 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

ners are to be burned forever. How the 
Hebrews honored fire. 

Or if, again, we hold with others of the 
same creed, that many are in bliss, and 
many are in hell, and many are in purga- 
tory, while vast multitudes are nowhere in 
particular, we must take up the idea that 
the majority of men, who, by their vices 
are really little better than the fierce or 
sluggish animals of the forest, and who 
are far inferior to the elephant, the horse, 
the ant, or the bee, are nevertheless worthy 
of an archangelic companionship with the 
Lord of Heaven ; or are thrust into fire that 
dieth not, wherein they must writhe and 
howl through everlasting centuries, tor- 
menting themselves and torturing each 
other with demoniac fury and malignity; 
or are mildly corrected until their relations 
have paid for masses enough to induce the 
Judge of perfect justice to violate one of 
His grandest attributes, and to bestow for- 
giveness for money, the offender himself 
having done nothing in the way of self- 
amendment, and likely to be left in almost 
hopeless captivity if his friends or rela- 














g^ 




AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



tives have no cash with which to bribe the 
holy turnkey of the church. 

As these views are perfectly inadmis- 
sible and absurd, we are forced to come to 
the conclusion that souls and spirits per- 
petually active are as perpetually taking 
to themselves new manifestations, high or 
low, in accordance and correspondence 
with their powers, desires, and affections. 

These doctrines were reserved for Eu- 
rope and America and superstitions, and 
it can scarcely be a matter of surprise that 
where they are thus held many of the pop- 
ulation are in the most debasing state of 
ignorance and ready to curse the minister, 
the priest and God himself when they are 
informed He will punish them individually 
for their transgressions. 

That there are wise and good men among 
the laity, and also among the clergy, who 
do not hold such views, I would fain be- 
lieve ; but after a long and not inattentive 
inquiry into the tenets which the later hold 
forth from their pulpits, I can only say 
that I have not heard them disavowed, nor 
have I ever heard of any attempt made to 
lead the people into a better system by 



























those who profess to be their oracles of 
truth. 

So far, indeed, from disabusing the 
minds of their audience of things that are 
false, the bishops and priests and min- 
isters all agree rather to pretend that, 
until Jesus preached, the whole world was 
in ignorance of God, of the existence of 
divine natures, of the immortality of the 
soul, and of a future condition of being for 
the soul of man, and I have met many per- 
sons, otherwise enlightened and sensible, 
who really believed this was so. Bishop of 
Winchester (Dr. Wilberforce) in the Inau- 
gural sermon, which he preached at Ard- 
ingly College, in Sussex, reiterated this 
falsehood, for he told his audience as a 
fact that * ^ a Christian child has more real 
knowledge than the greatest heathen phi- 
losopher," though in what that knowledge 
consisted he wisely refrained from explain- 
ing. And this was stated by a bishop in 
a country where the vast mass of the peo- 
ple are sunk in an ignorance which one 
might weep to think of. What must not 
these holy men have ventured upon in 
other times, when one of them ventures 




















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 

on such an assertion in the present? Yet 
can any fact in history be more perfectly 
established than this, that from the very 
first, the name, the character, and the prov- 
idence of God within the soul were con- 
fessed and adored by all wise men? **It 
seems to me," says a most ancient writer, 
* ' that there is not only One Spirit, but that 
there is One, the Greatest and Highest 
God, who governeth the whole Universe, 
and that there are many others besides 
Him, differing indeed as to their power, 
but that One God reigneth over them all, 
who surpasses all in strength, greatness, 
and excellence. This is that Supreme Lord 
who contains and comprehends the Kos- 
mos ; but the other Divine natures are they 
who together with the revolution of the 
Universe, orderly follow that First and 
Intelligible God.'' The Ethiopians, says 
Strabo, acknowledge One Eternal Su- 
preme Being, who is the First Cause of 
things; and believe in a Deity who is Im- 
mortal, Nameles, and wholly Invisible ; that 
is the Holy Spirit. The Supreme Lord, 
says Seneca, copying the language of pri- 
meval wisdom, when he laid the foundation 























of this most beautiful fabric, and began to 
erect that structure than which Nature 
knows nothing greater or more excellent, 
to the end that all things might be carried 
on under their respective governors or- 
derly, albeit, he Himself superintended the 
whole, so as to preside in chief over all, 
yet did He generate divine beings, as sub- 
ordinate ministers of His kingdom under 
Him. Maximus of Tyre expressly declares 
that it was the general understanding of all 
the Gentiles, from the very first ages, that 
there was but One God, the King and 
Father of all, but many divine ones, the 
sons of God. Even the doctrine of an in- 
finity of inhabited worlds was taught in 
Greece by Anaximander and Xenophanes, 
who were merely its recipients from far 
remote predecessors, and afterwards by 
Diogenes Apolloniates, B. C. 428, and by 
Democritus, B. C. 361. They taught that 
there is at all times an infinity of coexist- 
ent worlds (world-islands) throughout 
endless and unbounded space; and that it 
is as absurd to think there should be only 
one world in space as that in an extensive 
field, properly cultivated, there should 











:^^^ 














AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



grow up no more than one single blade of 
corn. It was the opinion of Democritns 
that some of these worlds resemble each 
other, whilst others are entirely dissimilar. 
This was 2,400 years ago. Yet recently 
we had a controversy among some of onr 
learned philosophers and divines whether 
the earth was not the only one of the 
innumerable planets which was peopled. 
The orthodox and the divines of course 
maintained that it was, and proved by the 
Scriptures that all the rest of space, with 
its living stars and systems, was a blank 
vacuity, wholly devoid of existence. And 
yet by such as these the philosophy of the 
Past is mocked at as by foolishness. The 
whole world, says Apuleius, worshipeth 
only One Supreme Deity in a multiform 
manner under different names and differ- 
ent rites — which different names, adds 
Cudworth, for One and the supreme God 
might, therefore, be mistaken by some of 
the sottish vulgar amongst the Pagans, as 
well as they have been by learned men of 
these later times, for so many distinct un- 
made and self -existent deities. 

Pythagoras, whose name in Welsh, sin- 



















42 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



gularly enough, means explication of the 
Universe, from the verb pythagori (Owen's 
Dictionary, verb, cit; Pictet. Proef) to ex- 
plain the system of the universe, thus ex- 
pounded this theology more than five hun- 
dred years before the boasted Christian 
era: ^^God is neither the object of sense, 
nor subject to passion; but Invisible, only 
Intelligible, and supremely Intelligent. In 
His body he is like the light, and in his 
soul He resembles Truth. He is the Uni- 
versal Spirit that pervades and diffuses 
itself over all nature. All beings receive 
their life from Him. There is but One only 
God, who is not, as some are apt to 
imagine, seated above the world, beyond 
the Orb of the Universe ; but being himself 
all in all, He sees the beings that fill His 
immensity; the only Principle, the Light 
of Heaven, the Father of all. He is the 
Reason, the Life, and the Motion of all 
beings." That God, says lamblichus (and 
it would be difficult to define Him more 
augustly) who is the Cause of generation, 
and the whole nature, and of all powers 
of the elements themselves, is separate, ex- 
empt, elevated above, and expanded over, 
















Awr^ 



^nm 








AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



all the powers and elements in the "World. 
For, being above the World, and transcend- 
ing the same, immaterial and incorporeal, 
supernatural, unmade, indivisible, mani- 
fested wholly from himself and in himself, 
He ruleth over all things, and in himself 
containeth all things, and because He vir- 
tually comprehends all things, therefore, 
does He impart and display the same for 
himself. 

Historians, both sacred and profane, 
says Abbe Tressans, in his Mythology, 
speak of Egypt as one of the wisest of na- 
tions, and one of the eulogiums which the 
inspired writings passed on Moses and 
on Solomon is that they were skilled in all 
the sciences of the Egyptians. We must 
carefully distinguish then between the ig- 
norance which reigned among the multi- 
tude and the profound wisdom of those who 
cultivated the sciences and had read the 
works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, 
or thrice-great (Thoth). According to this 
celebrated man, *^God existed in sun-like 
Unity before all beings. His is the course 
of all that is intelligent — the First incom- 
prehensible principle — himself all-sufficient 
















44 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 












and Father of all Essences.'* I shall like- 
wise give Zoroaster's definition of Him; it 
is the most beautiful production of an- 
tiquity. Eusebius has preserved it in his 
Evangelical Preparation ; he transcribed it 
literally from a book of Zoroaster's still 
extant in his time, entitled **A Sacred Col- 
lection of Persian Monuments." **God," 
it says, is the First of incorruptibles. 
Eternal, not begotten, He is not composed 
of parts; there is nothing like Him, or 
equal to Him. He is the author of all good, 
the most excellent of all excellent beings, 
and the wisest of all Intelligences; the 
Father of Justice and good laws, self-in- 
structed, all-sufficient in himself, and the 
original Author of all Nature. Orpheus 
declares that there exists an Unknown Be- 
ing, who is the highest and Most Ancient 
of all beings, and Author of all things ; this 
Sublime being is Life, Light, Knowledge; 
three names expressive of that power 
which out of nothing formed all things vis- 
ible and invisible. 

The religion of the Hindu sage, says 
Coleman, in his Mythology of the Hindus, 
as inculcated by the Veda, is the belief in, 






















and worship of, one great and only God — 
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, 
of whose attributes he expresses his ideas 
in the most awful terms. These attributes 
he conceives are allegorically (and allegor- 
ically only) represented by the three per- 
sonified powers of Creation, Preservation, 
and Destruction — Brahma, Vishnu, and 
Siva — while the Father is described as the 
Almighty, infinite, eternal, incomprehen- 
sible, self -existent being; He who sees 
everything, though never seen; He who is 
not to be compassed by description, and 
who is beyond the limits of human con- 
ception; He from whom the universal 
world proceeds; who is the Lord of the 
universe, and whose work is the universe ; 
He who is the light of all lights, whose 
name is too sacred to be pronounced, and 
whose power is too infinite to be imagined 
— Brahm; the one, unknown, true being, 
the creator, the preserver, and destroyer of 
the universe. Under such, and innumerable 
other definitions, is the Deity acknowl- 
edged by the Veda, or sacred writings of 
the Hindus. **I believe,^' says Varro, 
epitomizing one of the most ancient creeds, 


























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

^Hhat God is the Soul of what the Greeks 
call Kosmos, the Universe, and that the 
Universe itself is God, who is ^Imma- 
nent.' " 























Superstition and Hebrew Fables. 

All these things, to him who seeks, are 
as palpable almost as sun in its noonday 
splendor, and they constitute the only true 
basis of a true religion and Brotherhood 
over the face of the earth. They have 
been demonstrated in the Book, ^'The Im- 
manence of God,'' and to this treatise the 
reader is referred. 

The deeps of ignorance in which man- 
kind voluntarily immerses itself by believ- 
ing in biblical Hebrew fables are sufficient 
to fill anyone with dismay, when he con- 
siders how tremendous are the interests 
involved in this suicide of the immortal 
nature that is in human beings. 

Of the innumerable millions upon earth, 
how small and insignificant is the number 
of those who actually think upon the 

47 















rmn 









GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

sublime power within them, or meditate 
upon the true nature of their Soul. Every- 
thing now is either blind faith in what has 
never been investigated, superstition, or an 
abject credulity in the most degrading 
fables, or a hidden infidelity which wears 
the mask of religion. 

* ^ Superstition, ' ' says Plutarch, *4s an 
evil no less to be avoided than Atheism; 
and the latter, I do believe, leads to less ac- 
tual vice than the conventicleism which pre- 
vails. Hardly anyone believes, that is, in 
the sense of the word; hardly anyone in- 
quires or seeks to learn anything of the 
true Nature of Things; the Millions are 
contented with their present amount of 
knowledge ; deeming not that it is in fact 
ignorance, superstition, and folly. ' ' 

He who seeks to teach them or draw 
their attention from the unknown God to 
the true God within them, from Orthodoxy 
and Dogmatic theology to intellectualism, 
is listened to by the Protestants with im- 
patience, or with a dull ear; and he can 
see that his auditor is but little interested 
in that which is his all. 


























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



Things divine, says the Ancient Oracle, 
cannot be obtained by those whose intel- 
lectual eye is directed to superstition; but 
those only can arrive at the possession of 
them who, stripped of their garments of 
Theology, hasten to the summit. 

I do not deny that multitudes talk, 
preach, and write upon this subject; I do 
not controvert that as a theme it is one 
on which millions and millions babble until 
they really believe that they exercise 
thought, reason, reflection, and examina- 
tion. 

But nothing can be more superficial, or 
shallow, than their notions upon this and 
all correlative matters. How many thou- 
sands every Sunday join in prayers on 
which they have never once exercised the 
least ray of that practical common sense 
which distinguishes them in all matters 
of ordinary life; which regulates them in 
the purchase of their Sunday dinner, or 
their holiday garment ; or in the sale of the 
commodity by which they gain their living ; 
how many thousands unite in hymns of 
which they have never once seriously ex- 
amined the tendency, and which in reality 














'1^A/\^<' 



m^ 











GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

breathe but idolatry, superstition, and fool- 
ishness. 

If I were to make extracts from the vari- 
ous most approved volumes of hymnology, 
and to comment upon them, as their lan- 
guage would warrant, the pious reader 
would be shocked at the odious, contradic- 
tory, and ridiculous qualities which he un- 
consciously joins in attributing to God, 
and would in heart condemn himself for 
having used his speech to so dreadful an 
end, and for having voluntarily laid aside 
his reason, when he sang those silly, blas- 
phemous, and fabulous rhymes. 

The priests and those who are the au- 
thors or advocates of those hymns, and of 
the theistic notions which they impercep- 
tibly inculcate, are, it is true, at the bottom 
of all this criminal indifference to the 
physical and spiritual welfare of mankind, 
which is the characteristic of modern life. 

Having bound in brazen shackles the 
souls and spirits of mortals, they have re- 
riveted their chains by a series of super- 
stitions and myths, and by interminable 
falsehood they keep their serfs in durance, 
from which, unfortunately for themselves, 








rm 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



the serfs evince little or no anxiety to 
escape, so completely are they hypnotized 
by Orthodoxy. Deluded Christians remind 
one of those madmen who, happy in their 
delusions, think themselves kings or 
princes, when crowned with straws or 
thorns, and laugh derisively at those who 
would remove them from their fancied 
thrones. 

Wliat spectacle on earth can be more 
saddening than to see a man immersed up 
to his eyes daily in Orthodoxy, and never 
once laboring after the true power (God) 
within, but living wholly for the acquisition 
and enjoyment of present corporeal de- 
lights, who has never given one month of 
his whole existence to investigation either 
into what he is, what he is to be, or what 
he ought reasonably to believe of religious 
faith; but who doggedly maintains all the 
nonsense and fabulous myths that he hears 
on Sunday from a man as carnal and as 
ignorant of God or all that is really Good 
as he is himself I What sight, I ask, can 
be more melancholy throughout unbounded 
nature, than to see such a man assured, 
like all our dying murderers, after a beef- 















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

steak breakfast, of an immortal throne in 
Heaven with Jesus Christ and the Apostles 
if he sincerely believes all his sins have 
been atoned for in the blood of God; and 
that a steadfast adherence to this *^ super- 
stitious faith" is alone necessary for his 
salvation I 

That such a believer is absolutely insane, 
would be clear to anyone who exercised 
judgment; but judgment upon such mat- 
ters is seldom or never used, and the 
priests and clergymen and their cliques 
persecute with such undying virulence and 
hatred all who differ from themselves, or 
who would attack their systems, that man, 
who is naturally rather of an indolent than 
of an inquiring disposition, sits down satis- 
fied with things as he finds them, and sur- 
renders himself, spirit, soul, and body, to 
the arch-impostor of the fanatical dupe, 
both of whom, unfortunately, exist in great 
numbers among the teachers and clergy- 
men of Orthodoxy. As a general rule it 
may be taken that a large cohort of the sac- 
erdotal order consists of honest fools, who, 
from early education and indolent habits, 
and confirmed custom, ignorance, and port, 
















\f' 





\r. 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 53 

believe all the folly that they teach; but 
there are always great and accomplished 
rogues behind, who pull the strings of 
these wooden puppets, and thus procure 
for themselves popedoms, archpishoprics, 
and patriarchates, in which they exercise 
the power of despots, and laugh compla- 
cently at the gain of the few. 

For who can seriously believe that the 
profound and subtle scholars, whom every 
church enumerates among its janissaries, 
can sincerely hold the wild, contradictory, 
and blasphemous tenets which they put 
forth from pulpit and from desk; or can 
anyone suppose that the accomplished 
minds that have won pontificates and 
thrones entertain the least doubt that the 
Canon and Articles which they uphold are 
false as the Books themselves on which 
they are founded? That they are, will be 
proven in this volume, which shows that the 
books in the Bible are forgeries. 

The steadfastness with which they perse- 
cute all who differ from them in opinion, 
and the unreasoning support which their 
believers give them in such persecution, are 
among the main sources of their vitality. 
























54 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



Yet these persecutors invariably profess 
the greatest attachment to liberty of 
thought, and I have no doubt that they per- 
suade themselves that they do but maintain 
its liberty at the very moment when they 
are doing all they can for its destruction. 

The philosophers of Greece, at a most 
early period, arrived at the knowledge of 
One only God, who is ^^ Immanent'' the 
Father and the Fountain of all : it came to 
them from the East, the source of all light. 
Yet when Anaxagoras openly taught it he 
was in consequence charged with atheism, 
and narrowly escaped death. Even at the 
present moment there are writers who 
ignorantly follow in the wake of his rever- 
end accusers, and do not hesitate to call 
him atheist. 

We know also that Pythagoras, one of 
the purest and greatest of men, was relent- 
lessly slaughtered when he preached re- 
form and exposed the falsehood of the 
Pagan priests, while Socrates, like Jesus, 
was formally condemned and murdered be- 
cause he did not uphold the licentious rab- 
blement of *^ deities" in whom the pontiffs 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



taught their believing dupes to put their 
spiritual faith. 

The Jewish parsons and Scribes massa- 
cred Jesus,* who labored to upraise the 
multitude from practical atheism ; and by a 
woman of the same nation, Ahmed, was 
poisoned at the instigation, doubtless, of 
some pious Rabbis who had persuaded her 
that in so doing she was performing a serv- 
ice that would associate her name in glory 
with Judith, the sanctified assassin. 

AVherever, indeed, a man is found whose 
great aim is to uplift the souls and spirits 
of his fellows from the atheism and mire of 
superstition there the priests, ministers 
and their detestable satellites are gathered 
like hyenas ready to destroy and to devour 
him. 

The more beautiful the truth which he 
preaches, the more ravenously do they 
foam with rage ; for beauty is the everlast- 
ing antagonist of the deformed, and the 
deformed is the Demon whom they adore ; 
and they who are in fact themselves but 



*"The Immanence of God"— ''Know Thyself," 
gives all details regarding the murder of Jesus. 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

superstitious devil-worshipers, by loud out- 
cries persuade the multitude that the man 
who would fain by his teachings clothe 
their minds in sunbeams and better their 
physical well-being is in reality an emis- 
sary of darkness, whom they should ex- 
terminate with all speed. 

Where is there in prophet or apostle a 
more sublime glimpse of the nature of the 
soul, of its aspirings after the Eternal, and 
of its future imparadization than that 
which is contained in the following extract : 

**A wise spirit, says my author, does not 
fear death: nay, sometimes it seeks and 
goes forth to meet it of its own accord."* 

For there awaits all actual being for du- 
ration, an Everlasting; for place; for ac- 
tion, Omnif ormity. We pursue, therefore, a 
species of contemplation ; not light or futile 
but the weightiest and most worthy of an 
accomplished man while we examine and 
seek for the splendor, the interfusion and 
communication of the *^ Immanent God" of 
Nature ; not in meats or drink, or any yet 
ignobler matter with the race of the thun- 

*As in cases of voluntary martyrdom. 










AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 




der-stricken,* but in the august palace of 
the Omnipotent, in illimitable ethereal 
space, in the infinite power that creates all 
things, and is the abiding being of all 
things — Immanent — Inherent in all. 

Yet the man who advocated this and 
* * The Immanence of God, ' ' and who sought 
to make his fellows believe it as a portion 
of their daily creed and thought (I mean 
Giordano Bruno), was condemned by the 
priests as an Atheist, and was publicly 
burned in Eome in the year 1600 by men 
who pretended to infallibility, and by a 
Pontiff who styled himself the Vicar of the 
Supreme. 

Can or does the God of Theology ap- 
prove of cold-blooded murder? And many 
thousand Petro-Paulite men (Protestants), 
I have no doubt, rejoiced in such a burnt 
offering to the Lord. Nor has the same 
persecuting spirit yet departed. In Eng- 
land, indeed, it can but now and then pro- 

*That is minds, or limited natures, stunned and stupe- 
fied by superstitious fears. The writer here alludes to 
transubstantiation, communion of bread and wine, blood 
atonement, scapegoats, and such follies, or rather crimes; 
for what crime can be so great as to debase the divine 
power (God) in the souls of all men? 













PlATELlX.— CLAY TABLET FROM TELL EL-AMARNA. IN UPPEFLEGYPT; inscribed 

with a letter from Abi-milki (Abimelech, governor of Tyre, to the king of 

Efrypt» about B. C. 1450. (British Museum, No, 88-10-13, 51. ) 

TRe 'writer accepts with great icy the appointment of commander of IFie troops In Tyre: wltb- 

put him the city would have been tost. He will hold out to the end a^ainstthe king's enemiea ^ed 

by Zimrida, governor of Sidon, and'Aziru, a disaffected £e:yptian'o£Rcial), but prays the IcijigloMOld 

him wood and'water (the citadel o^Tyre being built ca a'rocic separated from the mainland}. 







I^nLXL— THE EMPEROR TIBERIUS AS A 
YOUNG MAN. 
Bom B. C. 43 : died A. D. 37. 
^rom a marble bust lit the Berlin Muaeum.) 



Pu^TB LXII.— THE EMPEROR 

VESPASIAN. 

Bom A. D. 9 : died A. O. 79. 

(From a bronze bust In the Loutkl) 






Ancient tablet of upper Egypt; coins and busts of the days of ancient theology and religion. 

Note. — These plates are Interesting because they belonged to the ages of antiquity only, for 
they bftve no more to do with man's spiritual and physical wellbeing than does the Chinaman's 
"Joes Stick" or the relics of ancient India. Orthodoxy, however, uses them as God's svmbols, 
tX* word and works. 

58 








AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



ceed, as in the cases of Priestley and Shel- 
ley, to those deadly extremes to which its 
impulses would lead it; but it makes 
amends for its lack of massacre by the 
moral murder to which it consigns all who 
oppose the system of priest-craft and Dog- 
matic Theology. 

It excludes them living from rank or 
honor ; it villifies and defames every action 
of their lives ; it educates the rising genera- 
tion in the most ardent hatred of those 
whose lives have been in fact a blessing to 
the world; it shuts them out when dead 
from the pantheon of the famous deceased ; 
it would, if it could, deny them even Chris- 
tian burial, and it gloats over their mem- 
ories with a savage howl of cannibal ven- 
geance in language of the most odious 
defamation. 

THE IMMANENCE OF GOD. 

Volumes would hardly suffice to show 
what sublime ideas of God once prevailed 
over the earth, until they were extermi- 
nated by superstition and the Priests. Con- 
sonant, indeed, to right reason and to all 
true ideas of the Divine were the religious 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

notions of the primitive men who taught 
**The Immanence of God/' as did The 
Master Jesus, who died on the Cross of 
Calvary. 

In true teachings they represented the 
** Kingdom God within man/' that God was 
inherent in all, and not partial local, or 
provincial like that of Jews and Paulites 
(Orthodoxy), but wide and all-embracing, 
like Infinity itself. 

When contrasted with the base, narrow, 
and foul views of God which are now com- 
monly preached, how brilliantly they 
gleam! God, indeed, has been dragged 
from his Empyreal Throne Within the 
souls of all men, and degraded to the mis- 
erable level of a rabbinical Lar or house- 
hold gnome, who sacrificed all things for 
the preservation of a robber and an apos- 
tate tribe, upon whose scriptures has been 
founded the fanatical doctrines of The- 
ology. 

THE PAPAL AND OETHODOX CHUECH OF EUROPE 
AND AMERICA. 

These sublime and truthful ideas con- 
cerning the Supreme essence, and more es- 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



61 



pecially those contained in ^'THE IMMA- 
NENCE OF GOD/' now pervade the whole 
of that vast community of mortals who 
constitute the real followers of ^^THE 
MASTEE JESUS/' and have helped to 
imbue their faith with much of its inherent 
grand simplicity, while the contrary feel- 
ing among Christians has tended to de- 
grade the idea of the belief that God is all 
in all. 

Why should we seek, says the august 
Arabian sage, to comprehend what cannot 
he comprehended? It is a tree which hath 
neither root, nor trunk, nor any branch, for 
the thought to lay its hold upon. It is a 
riddle in which man can find neither a lit- 
eral nor a metaphorical sense, and of which 
man can give no satisfactory explanation. 
God is infinitely above the capacity of our 
understandings , and we always lose our- 
selves when we would comprehend or guess 
at what He is. Let it suffice, therefore, that 
we adore Him with religious silence. In 
the same spirit was the definition of God 
given by an ancient Irish priest. God is 
Beginning without a beginning ; a finer idea 
than anything in the vaunted Psalms of 





















62 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



the Hebrews, where God is too frequently 
represented as a Man, rather than as the 
Universal Ruler and Creator, This may be 
supplemented by a further exposition of 
the creed which ^* benighted heathens" 
held, until Paul and his rabblement threw 
back the world into barbarism, supersti- 
tion, and ignorance. 

There is One First Cause of all things, 
whose nature is so immensely transcendant 
that it is even Super-Essential, and in con- 
sequence of this it cannot properly either 
be named, or spoken of, or conceived by 
opinion, or be knotvn or perceived by any 
being. 

That if it be lawful to give a name to 
that which is truly Ineffable, the appella- 
tion of the One, and the Good, are, of all 
others, the most adapted to it; the former 
of these names indicating that it is the 
Principle of all things ; the latter that it is 
the ultimate Object of Desire to all things. 

That this Immense Principle produced 
such things as are first and proximate to 
itself, just as the heat immediately pro- 
ceeding from fire is most similar to the 
heat of the fire, and the light immediately 













emanating from the sun to that which the 
sun essentially contains. Hence this Prin- 
ciple produces many principles proximate- 
ly from itself. 

That since all things differ from each 
other, and are multiplied with their proper 
differences, each of these multitudes is 
suspended from its one proper principle. 
That in consequence of this all beautiful 
things, whether in souls or in bodies, are 
suspended from One Fountain of Beauty. 
That whatever possesses symmetry, and 
whatever is true, and all principles are in a 
certain respect connate with the First 
Principle, so far as they are principles, 
with an appropriate subjection and 
analogy. That all other principles are com- 
prehended in this First Principle ; not with 
interval and multitude but as parts in the 
whole, and number in the monad. That it 
is not a certain principle like each of the 
rest, for of those one is the Principle of 
Beauty, another of Truth, and another of 
something else ; but it is simply Principle. 
Nor is it simply the Principle of Beings, 
but it is the Principle of Principles ; it be- 
ing necessary that the characteristic prop- 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



erty of principle, after the same manner as 
other things, should not begin from multi- 
tude, but should be collected into One 
Monad, as a summit, and which is the Prin- 
ciple of Principles, or God Immanent. 

That such things as are produced by the 
First God, in consequence of being connas- 
cent with it, do not recede from essential 
goodness, since they are immovable and 
unchanged, and are eternally established in 
the same blessedness. All other natures, 
however, being produced by the one good 
and many goodnesses since they fall off 
from essential goodnesses and are not im- 
movably established in the nature of Di- 
vine Goodness, possess on this account the 
good according to participation. 

That as all things considered as subsist- 
ing casually in this Immense Principle are 
transcendently more excellent than they 
are when considered as effects proceeding 
from him, this Principle is very properly 
said to be all things prior to all priority, 
denoting exempt transcendency. Just as 
number may be considered as subsisting 
occulty in monad, and the circle in the 












■M 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



65 



center, this Occult being the same in each 
with casual subsistence. 

That is all things considered as subsist- 
ing casually in this Immense Principle are 
transcendently more excellent than they 
are when considered as effects proceeding 
from him; this Principle is very properly 
said to be all things prior to all priority, 
denoting exempt transcendency. Just as 
number may be considered as subsisting 
occultly in the Monad, and the circle in the 
center, this Occult being the same in each 
with casual subsistence. 

That the most proper mode of venerat- 
ing this great Principle of Principles is to 
extend in silence the ineffable parturitions 
of the soul to its ineffable cosensation ; and 
that if it be at all lawful to celebrate it, it 
is to be celebrated as the God of all Gods 
and the Unity of all Unities; as more In- 
effable than all silence, and more Occult 
than all essence ; as Holy among the Holies, 
and Concealed in its first progeny — the In- 
telligible Gods. 

That self- sub sistent natures are the im- 
mediate offspring of this Principle, if it be 
lawful thus to denominate things which 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

ought rather to be called ineffable, unfold- 
ing into light from the Ineffable. 

That incorporeal forms or ideas resident 
in a divine intellect are the paradigms or 
models of everything which has a perpetual 
subsistence according to nature. That 
these ideas subsist primarily in the highest 
intellects; secondarily in souls, and ulti- 
mately in sensible natures; and that they 
subsist in each characterized by the essen- 
tial properties of the beings in which they 
are contained. That they possess a pater- 
nal, producing, guardian, connecting, per- 
fective, and uniting power. That in divine 
beings they possess a power fabricative 
and gnostic ; in nature a power fabricative 
but not gnostic; and in human souls in 
their present condition, through a degrada- 
tion of intellect, a power gnostic but not 
fabricative. 

That this world, depending on its Divine 
Artificer, who is himself an Intelligible 
World replete with the archetypal ideas of 
all things, is perpetually flowing, and per- 
petually advancing to being, and compared 
with its paradigm has no stability or real- 
ity of being. That considered, however, as 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



67 



animated by a Divine Soul, and as being 
the receptacle of divinities from whom 
bodies are suspended, it is justly called by 
Plato a blessed God. 

That the great body of this World, 
which subsists in a perpetual dispersion 
of temporal extension, may be properly 
called a whole with a total subsistence, or 
a whole of wholes on account of the per- 
petuity of its duration, though this is noth- 
ing more than a flowing eternity. That the 
other wholes which it contains are the ce- 
lestial spheres, the spheres are parts with 
a total subsistence, and through this sub- 
sistence are perpetual. 

That all the parts of the Universe are 
unable to participate of the Providence of 
Divinitv in a similar manner ; but some of 
its parts enjoy this eternally, and others 
temporarily; some in a primary, and 
others in a secondary degree ; for the Uni- 
verse being a perfect whole, must have a 
first, a middle and a last part. But its first 
parts, as having the most excellent sub- 
sistence, must always exist according to 
nature, and its last parts must sometimes 
exist according to and sometimes contrary 














\^ 















68 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



to nature. Hence the celestial bodies, 
which are the first parts of the Universe, 
perpetually subsist according to nature; 
both the whole spheres and the multitude 
coordinate to these wholes; and the only 
alteration which they experience is a muta- 
tion of figure and variation of light at dif- 
ferent periods; but in the sublunary 
region, while the spheres of the elements 
remain on account of their subsistence as 
wholes always according to nature, the 
parts of the wholes have sometimes a nat- 
ural and sometimes an unnatural subsist- 
ence, for thus alone can the circle of gen- 
eration unfold all the variety which it con- 
tains. The different periods, therefore, in 
which these mutations happen are with 
great propriety called by Plato periods of 
fertility and sterility; for in these periods 
a fertility or sterility of men, animals and 
plants takes place. So that in fertile peri- 
ods mankind will be both more numerous 
and upon the whole inferior in mental and 
bodily endowments to the men of a barren 
period. And a similar reasoning must be 
extended to irrational animals and plants. 
The most dreadful consequence likewise at- 

















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



69 



v^^ 



TTI 



tending a barren period, with respect to 
mankind, is this, that in such a period they 
have no scientific theology, and deny the 
existence of the immediate progeny of the 
Ineffable Cause of all things. But all habi- 
tude is produced through imitation and 
similitude. On this account temples imi- 
tate the heavens but altars the earth. 
Statues resemble life. 

The world, considered as one great com- 
prehending whole, is a divine work, so like- 
wise every whole which it contains is a 
world possessing in the first place a self 
perfect unity proceeding from the Ineffa- 
ble by which it becomes a God ; in the sec- 
ond place a divine intellect; in the third 
place a divine soul; and in the last place 
a deified body. That each of these wholes 
is the producing cause of all the multitude 
which it contains, and on this account is 
said to be a whole prior to parts because 
considered as possessing an eternal form 
which holds all its parts together, and 
gives to the whole perpetuity of subsist- 
ence, it is not indigent of such parts to the 
perfection of its being. And it follows by 
a geometrical necessity that these wholes 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

which rank thus high in the universe must 
be animated. 

That of the Gods some are mundane, but 
others are supermundane, and that the 
mundane are those who fabricate the 
world. But of the supermundane some pro- 
duce essences, others intellect, and others 
soul; and on this account they are distin- 
guished into three orders. Of the Mun- 
dane Gods also some are the causes of the 
existence of the world, others animate it, 
others again harmonize it, thus composed 
of different natures; and, lastly, others 
guard and preserve it when harmonically 
arranged. 

That man is a microcosm comprehending 
in himself partially everything which the 
world contains divinely and totally. That 
hence he is endued with an intellect sub- 
sisting in energy and rational soul pro- 
ceeding from the same causes as those 
from which the intellect and Soul of the 
Universe proceed. And that he had like- 
wise an ethereal vehicle, analogous to the 
heavens, and terrestrial body composed 
from the four elements, and with which 
also it is coordinate. 











^9^ 



AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 



71 



That the rational part of man, in which 
his essence consists, is of a self -motive na- 
ture ; and that it subsists between intellect, 
which is immovable both in essence and 
energy, and nature, which both moves and 
is moved. 

Zaleucus, who lived about a thousand 
years before the Christian era, and who is 
said to have been chief ruler among the 
Locrians, left them and ordained the fol- 
lowing summary of religious belief, which 
appears to me very much superior to any 
that I can find in the same short space 
among teachers of greater pretension: 
Every man, he says, ought to be convinced 
of the existence of God within himself. He 
who shall observe the order, harmony and 
music of the Universe cannot believe that 
chance has formed this splendid structure. 
He should be master also of his own mind ; 
he would purify his soul by disengaging it 
from all evil inclination, holding it as his 
creed that the Supremely pure cannot be 
adored by the corrupt, and that The Divine 
has no likeness to those miserable human 
beings who allow themselves to be daz- 
zled by magnificent, superstitious cere- 




















rr^ 





GOB, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

monies, or by sumptuous offerings. Virtue 
only, and the constant desire to do good, 
will bring souls satisfaction. He therefore 
who sincerely labors to be just and true in 
his principles, and conforms his daily life 
to those ends, will make himself beloved 
in the eyes of his brothers. Let every mor- 
tal man avoid what may lead him into dis- 
grace before his fellow men more anxiously 
than the minor evil of poverty ; for honor is 
bestowed by all the wise on him who pre- 
fers justice to mere wealth. The many 
whom their violent passions drag into evil, 
men, women, children, citizens, common 
people, should be taught to have self-con- 
trol before them and to reflect often on the 
severe judgment which will be bound to 
come to those who know not themselves. 
They should see perpetually in front of 
their eyes the form of health. 

There is nothing, says the Abbe Bazin, 
in his History of Philosophy, in all an- 
tiquity which is superior to this simple but 
sublime fragment, dictated by reason and 
by excellence; but all antiquity, he might 
have added, is full of fragments equally 
sublime. And this is so whether we begin 




















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 

with the Philosophers and teachers imme- 
diately preceding the advent of Jesus, or 
ascend to the first rise of religion among 
the Chinese, when it was proclaimed to that 
most ancient people that there is One the 
First Principle, who hath no beginning, 
who hath no end. He hath made all things. 
He governs all. He is infinitely good, in- 
finitely jnst. He illuminates ; He sustains ; 
He governs the Universe — a finer defini- 
tion of God than I have ever read by any 
Christian writer or ever heard preached 
from any Christian pulpit. 

Plato professes as the most proper way 
to form the minds of children that little 
mortal tales should be told them by their 
mothers and nurses as soon as they can 
speak. But as these enticing tales, if of a 
bad tendency, might lead young minds to 
vice, he is at great pains to give some re- 
markable restrictions concerning the spe- 
cies of tales he would alone have told. As 
first that no authorized tale must teach that 
ever there was war in heaven or any dis- 
cord or unbecoming passion incident to the 
Divine Nature. Then, that as the Supreme 
Being is always just good and beneficent, 



















74 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



no god must ever be said to be the cause 
of any real ill to men. And, lastly, since 
the Deity is One simple Essence, always 
true in word and deed, lie neither trans- 
forms himself into various shapes to ap- 
pear to men nor does He impose upon our 
senses by empty phantoms, much less de- 
ceive us by false speeches, or by sending 
delusive signs to men whether asleep or 
awake. Wherefore the Gods in any tale 
must never be represented as transforming 
themselves like jugglers, or leading peo- 
ple astray with any sort of sophistry in 
words or deeds. These cautions were 
chiefly intended against Hesiod, Homer, 
and ^schylus, out of whose poems he pro- 
duces instances of tales unworthy of the 
Divine Nature, and of whose bewitching 
imagery the Philosopher is so apprehen- 
sive that he will not allow such stories to be 
told to young persons, neither with an 
allegory nor without one. For, says he, a 
young creature is not capable of observing 
what parts of the tale may be allegorical 
and what not; while in the meantime the 
impressions made at these years on the 
imagination are scarcely to be afterwards 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



wiped out, but for the most part remain 
indelible during life. It has often oc- 
curred to me to ask myself what would 
Plato think if he lived now in the boasted 
era of western civilization, which is really 
more ignorant of true knowledge of self 
than they care to admit. How would he 
be shocked to find the greater portion of 
the Christian world believing as true the 
absurd and blasphemous theology of Mil- 
ton's Paradise and accepting literally the 
metaphorical language of the Old and New 
Testament? Yet it is thus that they are 
taught in Sunday-school and pulpit; and 
fables which the ancient world would have 
laughed to scorn, or branded as most im- 
pious, are positively believed by millions 
of our Paulites, and are hypocritically sup- 
ported by scholars and philosophers, who 
in their souls despise them for their atheis- 
tic tendency. But the fate of Socrates has 
made most men timid, and the timidity of 
the wise has made the world a slave. 

The Ancients held that the conversion of 
a man from vice to virtue, from ignorance 
to knowledge, from an adoration of the 
earth to the worship of heaven, was the 















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



work of time, and the result of labor ; that 
a long self-purificatory process was to be 
gone through, and that to this end it was 
absolutely essential that man should know. 
The moderns, in great multitudes, hold 
that this is wholly absurd ; that conversion 
is the miraculous work of the Holy Ghost 
effected in one moment; that it is the re- 
sult of grace, though no man knows what 
grace means nor has it ever been intelligi- 
bly defined; and that on the whole it is far 
better to be ignorant and superstitious 
than to possess knowledge; for that the 
ignorant are peculiarly the favored of God, 
who primarily regards ^^ babes and suck- 
lings,'^ while He generally leaves the wise 
and learned to shift for themselves as best 
they may. To knowledge, if it be restricted 
wholly to their own peculiar tenets, with 
the most resolute determination to abjure 
and persecute the tenets of all other sects, 
the priests do not offer any especial objec- 
tion ; but as a general rule they laud the ex- 
tremely ignorant, and say that it was for 
those their Eedeemer came, to them es- 
pecially he preached, and with them al- 
most all his social hours were passed. ^^The 













ct^V^ 










AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



77 



deepest impressions of evil custom and the 
darkest stains of evil custom and the dark- 
est stains of corrupted nature are sudden- 
ly iviped out and effaced/' says Warburton 
in his Doctrine of Grace, illustrating that 
wondrous agent; ^'and this, indeed, consti- 
tutes an article in the creed of many mil- 
lions, who aver, moreover, that the wholly 
illiterate are most generally the objects of 
this divine transformation/ ' But have they 
ever asked themselves this question, If so 
thorough an alteration can be wrought in a 
man by the immediate operation of the 
Spirit of God, and the worst may in an in- 
stant have their habits of vice changed to 
habits of virtue and goodness, why does a 
Being of infinite mercies and unbounded 
powers ever make use of severe methods 
with His children? Why did He work a 
miracle to destroy a world and to sweep 
away the innocent babe ivith the guilty of- 
fender, the blushing virgin and the hoary 
robber, as in the case of their fabulous 
Flood, ivhen another miracle equally easy 
to him, and, as it ought to seem, far more 
consonant with his divine paternal charac- 
ter, might have made them all good and 









I 














GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



happy in a moment? Would any earthly 
parent drown his children when he could as 
easily preserve their lives and make them 
virtuous and happy? 

A philosophical reply to this would be 
difficult; but the satisfactory response al- 
ways given is somewhat as follows: We 
are unable to comprehend the purposes of 
God ; in another life they will all be cleared 
up ; all we now know is that He did it ; but 
why He did none can tell and nobody is en- 
titled to ask. Our duty is to ^^ believe and 
tremble, " ^ ' believe and fear. ' ' That a day 
will come when even children will mock 
this solution, though urged upon them by 
all the bishops in the land, I am quite posi- 
tive ; but at present it imposes on the un- 
derstanding of many wise, many shrewd, 
and many good men, and is, of course, a 
vital doctrine with the profoundly igno- 
rant, who constitute the bulk of believers, 
and who gladly hear that they are the 
favorites of heaven. 

The ancient Hindus held that it was im- 
possible for God to change, for mutability 
is an attribute of the erring and imperfect ; 
that it was impossible for God to rest or go 







'^m 





AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



79 



to sleep, but that His creative powers were 
being incessantly developed, action being 
the great distinctive badge of His Omnipo- 
tent Nature, and that it was impossible for 
Him to do anything which contradicted 
any of His own enactments, no matter how 
strong the apparent necessity for his so do- 
ing would seem to be. The moderns hold 
that with God all things are possible ; that 
He has the most entire defiance of time, 
space, law, and circumstance; that He 
could change Himself into a monkey, a rat, 
or a devil, if He liked ; many of them hold 
that He is the latter already ; that He could 
destroy a whole world of innocent beings 
if it pleased Him; that He could tell lies, 
commit robbery, swear falsehood, and so 
on, if it suited His notions at any particu- 
lar period, and they cite the Old Testament 
in proof of these opinions. It requires no 
argument with anyone who is sane to con- 
vince him that these things are absolute 
impossibilities with God ; that He could not 
under any contingency do or effect them 
any more than that He could annihilate 
Himself; and that to suppose He could 
must necessarily lead to the most fearful 




















aOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

impieties — as, indeed, all false notions of 
the Supreme inevitably do. 

There are many things that even God 
could not do. He could not have severe 
winter weather and summer at once in the 
same place. He could not make a piece of 
cloth white and at the same time have it 
black. 

He could not make a negro and a white 
man out of one single individual. He could 
not take a horse and make a monkey out of 
it and at the same time have it still remain 
a monkey. 

There are many things that it would be 
impossible for God to do ; but we are told 
He performed all kinds of miracles. This 
is fabulous and the babblings of the super- 
stitious and ignorant. 

God can do nothing whatever that is in- 
consistent with beauty, purity, justice, or 
truth, or the immutable laws of nature. 
Does this detract from His all-power! By 
no means. It merely signifies that His 
transcendent perfections are so vast, so 
measureless, so exquisitely splendid, that 
even to suppose that He could ever depart 
from them in the least particular is to 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 

derogate from His majesty. The ancients 
learned their knowledge of these things 
from the primeval theology; but Protest- 
ants from the most ignorant of teachers. 
Can it excite wonder that they are so many 
thousands of years behind them in that 
true science of religion which does, indeed, 
exalt to heaven! 

How often have I heard it used in argu- 
ment when any of the awful representa- 
tions of the Divine Nature which are con- 
tained in the Old Testament are pointed 
out, and it has been urged that they are 
repugnant to every true notion of the All- 
pure; how often, I say, have I heard the 
biblical maintain, no doubt with perfect 
sincerity, that it was entirely right, for 
** cannot God do anything He pleases, and 
why should man arraign it "I How often 
have I seen sensible thinkers imposed on 
by this jargon, which, if they had only 
at all considered it, must have instantane- 
ously dissolved away into ruin, but which 
the fatal poison of ^^faith, belief, or ever- 
lasting damnation," etc., infused into them 
from youth prohibited them from examin- 
ing hy the light of reason and constrained 





















them even to accept as an indisputable 
axiom. And thus error is preserved and 
propagated, and sophisms that, when 
really inspected prove to be more unsub- 
stantial than air, are gravely propounded 
from desk and pulpit, from porch and plat- 
form, as unquestionable truths of philoso- 
phy, which to doubt were as heinous as to 
deny the existence of God. How many 
millions are there who gravely hold that 
God can do whatever He likes ; that He can 
repent, grieve, lie, equivocate, eat and 
drink, generate men like any other man, 
advise robbery, suggest rape, murder, etc., 
etc.; how many thousands are there who 
would rise up and stone a man in the 
streets if he attempted to teach them that 
it is impossible for God to do all, or any 
one, of these things! But these destruc- 
tive falsehoods must in time perish, unless 
this earth is fated always to be a supersti- 
tious hell; though before they do so men 
must really be taught that, unless they 
awaken from their present lethargy, and 
inquire, and think, and learn, they will con- 
tinue to embrace the blind, blank faith of 
Christian Theology. 




i — f^ 


















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 

The ancient Hindus' idea of God dif- 
fered much from the modern notion that 
He thrusts the wicked, and very often the 
innocent also, whom He has predestinated 
to sin, and who are undoubtedly a portion 
of Himself, and made in His own image, 
into burning lakes and pitchy gulfs, where 
they are everlastingly tormented by re- 
vengeful and spiteful devils, with no view 
to their amendment, with no pretense to 
their operating as an example, with no 
possibility of their escape. And so fond 
is God their Father of subjecting His chil- 
dren to this fiery tartarus that He employs 
the chief of the devils to tempt them into 
sinfulness (He Himself having no pre- 
science or foreknowledge as to how they 
will act when tempted), so that He may re- 
ward them for their resistance — which is 
generally unaccomplished — or torment 
them for their submission, which unhappily 
is their most usual fate. And this chief 
devil possesses enormous power; is omni- 
present ; is the Prince of Air or Space ; is 
almost next to God in sovereign dominion, 
and in contriving intellect, and wages ever- 
lasting war with the Almighty and his pure 



















84 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



Spirits; nor can the Omnipotent Maker 
and Master of the Universe reduce him to 
submission, or repress his wickedness, but 
is simply constrained as well as he can to 
counteract his horrible devices. Great 
scholars argue for this; great churchmen 
hold it ; the masses are taught that it is di- 
vine truth, but somehow or other man's 
instinct rebels against it, and there rests 
at the bottom of almost every human heart 
an innate notion that it is all a lie, imag- 
ined or invented in the days of Jewish or 
monkish barbarism to frighten the igno- 
rant; but wholly without any warranty in 
fact. 

Eternal damnation orthodoxy holds to 
be the true end and punishment of all who 
in their lives deny a heaven. 

The fact, however, of the Hindus'* idea 



*The followers of Mohammed, however, put some 
rather puzzling questions to our Petro-Paulites. "Why," 
said Murrane Sing (a Hindoo who can read English), 
"do you not convert the Jews, who live among you, know 
your virtues, and the excellence of your faith, and whose 
forefathers knew of the prophecies, and saw the won- 
ders mentioned in your Vedasf" (meaning the English 
Bible). A Protestant replied they were a stubborn race, 
and the denunciations against their race had been ful- 
filled; and instanced the occasions and times. "That is 
the more in favor of my argument" replied Murrane, 











AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



85 



of God, and their knowledge of celestial 
laws, being so far greater than those which 
form the basis of mere European creeds, 
furnishes a reason why all endeavors at 
their conversion to western views have 
failed, except among the lowest, poorest, 
and most degraded outcasts. An attempt 
by Christians to enlighten Orientals on the 
subject of God is about as wise as if an 
idiot sought to initiate a sage into the won- 
ders of philosophy. In all true theological 
knowledge, in all profound, august or en- 
nobling ideas of the Divine Polity, the 
West is hundreds of years behind the East ; 
nor can it ever attain the splendid heights 
of speculation to which these men have 







•V9h 



"for if, under the sufferings they have endured, and the 
accomplishment of the curse threatened them, they still 
remain obstinate and sinful, how are we to be convinced, 
must less converted, who know nothing of these signs 
and wonders of which you speak and have neither had 
promises or threats held out to us, except by mortals 
like ourselves who may or may not intend well? At least, 
they have nothing to show us to the contrary but windy 
words." He then referred to Paul, who, he observed, 
undoubtedly was a prophet, and AA'hose mission, though 
it appeared very probable, had made no effect on King 
Agrippa, who was as civilized ps 1^^« Hindoos; yet he 
was not to be persuaded, even thon/ h one of the prin- 
cipal propagators of it was present before him. "Then 
how," he added, "am I to be persuaded by those who 
are neither saints nor prophets?" 



















86 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



reached, until it seeks its inspiration at 
other sources than those from which it has 
so long drawn it, and enlarges its views of 
God's providence, until it can understand 
the broad, beautiful and comprehensive 
basis developed in the Divine works of 
God; a basis that appears as universal in 
its nature as the very laws of light and 
air themselves. 

With all this blaze of knowledge before 
us, clear and shining as the light of the 
Orient, the question arises, How comes it 
to pass that the whole West is still in 
darkness; and why are Europeans and 
Americans now more hopelessly ignorant 
of their past, their present, or their fu- 
ture, or of the sublime and pure nature 
of the Supreme Being, than our forefathers 
are shown to have been in remote ages; 
when Orthodox historians tell us that all 
was superstition; when philosophers hold 
that we were monkeys or savages; and 
priests pretend that there was nothing but 
impiety? The answer seems to me to be 
this, that the Church, whether of Eome, or 
of Luther, which now sways the con- 
sciences of men, wages an incessant war 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



upon the acquisition of true Knowledge, 
and perpetually interferes to dwarf the in- 
tellect and to destroy the growth of educa- 
tion. That the Popes for the first fifteen 
hundred years of Christendom, and from 
thence also until this moment did, and have 
done, all they could, to keep the tvorld in a 
state of barbarism, is noiv a truism so uni- 
versally acknowledged, and so loudly pro- 
claimed by Protestants writers, that no 
man would condescend to argue it; for to 
do so would imply that the matter might 
be disputed, or that our senses had de- 
ceived us as to the patent facts. That 
great scholars arose in those dark ages 
proves nothing ; for those men were not the 
children of the papacy, but were the dis- 
ciples and missionaries of knowledge, and 
they were as entirely independent of that 
odious superstition as if it had no exist- 
ence. The Papal church, supreme in 
Europe, was based on ignorance, and could 
only be maintained while ignorance con- 
tinued. The whole efforts of the clergy, 
therefore, has been and are directed to 
this one end, to keep the tvorld in their 
leading strings, by crushing out the mind of 









nm 
















88 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



the world. That they did so, and suc- 
ceeded, history proves; that they still la- 
bor in the awful and unholy calling is clear 
to all who take the trouble to investigate; 
and that to this one end the soldiers of that 
fearful fabric must necessarily adhere or 
be destroyed is the inevitable conclusion to 
which those arrive who have found her to 
be Falsehood, and who know that Knowl- 
edge is her deadly foe. 

The Lutheran churches pursue the same 
course. Holding to a creed devised by a 
narrow-minded and illiterate monk, whose 
early training had forever incapacitated 
him from broad, comprehensive or enlight- 
ened views; who, though a passionate 
thinker and a bold writer, and a man of 
daring courage, was absolutely ignorant of 
everything but mere monastic theology, 
than which it would be difficult to discover 
more exquisite fooling, and who in his later 
years of beer and bigotry was so im- 
mersed in vulgar squabbles about maniacal 
dogmas, that he had no time, even if he 
possessed the intellect, to enlarge his stock 
of ideas. The Protestant sects, dissipated 
into a thousand despicable conventicles, 











ax::? 




AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



89 



every one of which calls itself ^^ Christ's 
people, '^ have clung with desperate tenac- 
ity to the smallest and most degrading no- 
tions of the power, majesty and wisdom of 
the Supreme Being; of the universality of 
His Laws, and the unchanging grandeur 
of His attributes — notions that would 
shock a Pagan, but which receive a ready 
approval among the simple savages of the 
South Seas, or the dark-skinned lowly 
races of Africa. With these communities 
the Divine Fabricator of the Universe is a 
white-tied parson, with the wretched 
changing passions, and the still more 
wretched wants and necessities of a par- 
son ; now enraged, now capricious, now de- 
ceitful, now encouraging deceit; breathing 
pestilence and death upon the very beings 
whose hearts he has hardened so as to 
make them merit these calamities; swear- 
ing many oaths (for the Bible says God 
will smite and curse the children of the 
earth), and immediately after violating 
those oaths; the instigator to murder, the 
patron of incest, the pardoner of adultery, 
the seducer of a young virgin who was the 
affianced wife of another, so that true 






























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

Christianity between Peter and Paul is like 
Jesus crucified between two thieves. But 
why pursue the dreadful theme! or why 
commit to print the fearful thoughts that 
naturally arise in the mind, as the Atheist 
God of Petro-Paulite, Europe and Amer- 
ica looms up before us, covered with the 
blood of millions, whom a belief in his dark 
mystery has borne into ruin? 

But this most superstitious religion can 
exist only while men continue as they now 
are, as illiterate of the true God within 
them. It is not possible for an educated 
mind that has thought upon the subject to 
believe such madness. The vast majority 
of men believe and think not; if they rea- 
soned at all, and reasoned with knowledge, 
the whole system would be undone. Ee- 
specting such creeds as these, one may cite 
what Terence says of love : Quoe res in se 
neque consilium, neque modum hahet 
ullum; earn consilio r eg ere non potes; these 
are things that have in them neither com- 
mon sense, nor even moderation : you can- 
not bring common sense to bear upon them. 
Neither will they bear the searchlight of 
truth. Accordingly the life-long labor of 











AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 91 



the sects, the scope and tendency of their 
schools and institutes, the entire current of 
their theological literature, has been stead- 
ily directed to one end, and that end is to 
deprive men of their ordinary sense, and 
to prevent them from acquiring real knowl- 
edge. How often have I heard from pul- 
pits, and read in books, the priestly maxim 
that the poor and ignorant are those who 
are most likely to inherit the kingdom of 
God; and that learning leads more fre- 
quently to evil than to the everlasting wel- 
fare to souls. How often have I heard 
letters denounced and literature derided, 
unless it was of a certain class written in 
accordance with the thirty-nine articles, 
the Athanasian Creed, or the last number 
of some evangelical magazine whose com- 
pilers were the most degraded of fanatics ; 
or the last falsehood which had been 
wafted from Africa, and which detailed the 
conversion of some unhappy black from 
the worship of his fetish to the adoration 
of a devil. Tracts are the food on which 
the sects flourish ; and what educated man, 
that ever read a tract, did not arise from 
it with a blush for the ignorance of those 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

who composed, and a tear for the folly of 
those who were misled by, its vain and 
superstitious teachings! These people 
(Protestants) abuse Eome, and are mar- 
velously eloquent on her hatred of the 
light; they effect to sympathize with her 
unhappy followers as if they alone were 
the serfs of Satan ; but they are themselves 
walking in the shadow of Dogmatic Theol- 
ogy, and they do all they can to seduce 
others into the same wilderness. They cry 
everlastingly that Popery is the enemy of 
knowledge, and that by withholding truth 
she destroys souls ; but there is* not a single 
volume which they put forth, or a single 
sermon that they preach, in which they do 
not labor with all their zeal to diffuse ideas 
of the Divine Father, which are as oppo- 
site to his true nature as Light differs from 
the darkness of Hell (ignorance). It is not 
difficult to go into details ; but of what use 
is it to unveil the truth to those who shut 
their eyes to the sun, and groping in deep 
gloom, frantically cry out, how beautiful 
are the beams we see. Yet this is the con- 
dition of many; and those who will insist 
upon being misled by priests go headlong 





















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



into the abyss of ignorance and supersti- 
tion because they can behold no other alter- 
native. Let us hope with hearts sincere 
that the day may not be far distant when 
an end shall be put to this most evil state 
of things; when Orthodoxy that prevails, 
and which has reduced man from his grand 
condition of a thinking creature to the 
mean and groveling employment of a mere 
money getter, grinding and ground, en- 
slaving and enslaved, may be unknown; 
and the odious sects that have fattened on 
his ignorance and superstition may be 
checked and a true church erected which 
will teach the great lesson ^'KNOW THY- 
SELF ! ' ' Men and women will then burst 
the iron trammels of orthodoxy and Mo- 
saicism. 





















CHAPTEE IV. 

FoEGEKY, Mutilating, Interpolating, and 

COEEUPTING, THE BoOKS AND GoSPELS OF 

THE So-called Holy Sceiptuees. 

If my reader has any doubt that many 
books of the Bible are anonymous, and 
that it was a very common thing for names 
to be forged to Gospels and Scriptures to 
be mutilated, he has only to read this 
Chapter which shows many instances of 
forgery, mutilation of Gospels and pla- 
giarism, or literary theft. 

Eemember, my reader, that what ap- 
pears in this Chapter expresses the senti- 
ments and opinions of such Early Chris- 
tian Fathers as Jerome who flourished 
hundreds of years ago and refers to cer- 
tain Gospels, etc. After the reader has 
read this chapter then let him proceed to 
read this book in full and he will be a much 
wiser person. 

94 


























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



DISPUTED BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 

Many books and Gospels which were 
once the Code of an immense empire, and 
known to priests and divines throughout 
the world, disappeared mysteriously at an 
early period of the so-called Christian era, 
when the Petro-Paulite churches and their 
felonious priests began to destroy every 
book which was not in complete conformity 
with their system of sham Christianity 
which Papal Rome and its satellites reared 
on the ruins of Truth, which taught the 
Immanence of God, that is to say, God lies 
with the soul of all men. This of course did 
not agree with their Dogma, of the un- 
known God of the Hebrews. 

The fate of apocryphal writings in gen- 
eral, says Dr. Laurence in his dissertation 
on the Books of Scripture, has been sin- 
gular. On one side, from the influence of 
theological opinion, or theological caprice, 
they have been sometimes injudiciously 
admitted into the canon of Scripture: 
While on the other side, from an over- 
anxiety to preserve that Canon inviolate, 
they have been not simply rejected, but 






















5^§ 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

loaded with every epithet of contempt and 
obloqny. The feelings perhaps of both 
parties have on such occasions run away 
with their judgment. For writings of this 
description, whatsoever may or may not be 
their claim to inspiration, at least are of 
considerable utility where they indicate the 
theological opinions of the periods at 
which they were composed. This I appre- 
hend to be peculiarly the case of the Books 
of The Old Testament, which, as having 
been manifestly written before the doc- 
trines of Christianity were promulgated to 
the world, must afford us, when it refers 
to the nature and character of the Messiah, 
as it repeatedly does so refer, credible 
proof of what were the Jewish opinions 
upon those points before the birth of 
Christ, and consequently before the possi- 
ble predominance of the Christian creed. 
The bishops do not inform us by whose 
judgment or authority the canonicity of 
books is to be determined ; whether it is to 
be decided as at the council of Nice. All 
the ancient fathers, and now our modern 
ones, admit that the Old Testament was 
submitted to a careful review by Esdras 























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



97 



and the Synagogue, who did as they pleased 
with them. Every part of the Jewish Scrip- 
ture, says Tertullian, was reviewed by Es- 
dras. Whether you say, says Jerome, that 
Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, or 
that Esdras reformed the work, is a matter 
of indifference ; implying that the latter was 
quite as likely as the former. Ad. Helvid. 
ii, 212. And the reverend and right rever- 
end compilers of what is called The Speak- 
er's Commentary cite these passages with 
approbation; nor do they venture to deny 
their truth. It is folly therefore to talk of 
canonicity as being a certain test of truth. 
Any one who seriously contended for the 
infallibility of Esdras, or the Synagogue, 
on that or on any other matter, would ex- 
pose himself to just scorn. 

Many of the books now in the Bible 
which have been put forth by the church 
have been copied from an original that is 
spurious. To a critical eye, as Laurence 
admits, some certain ones of these books 
and Gospels present the obvious appear- 
ances of having been the work of two or 
three different persons, living in different 



























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

periods, as Murray confessed, just as the 
bulk of the writings which now constitute 
the Old Testament are at length proved to 
be. This fact did not escape the notice of 
the bishops ; but wedded to a system of the 
Praetorian guard, it did not occur to them 
that it was expedient to separate the true 
from the false, the old from the new; and 
they accordingly translated the whole of 
what they had, treating it, however, as a 
figment by some ingenious Jew supposed 
to have lived before the advent of Jesus. 
That certain books were classed by some 
of the fathers, as they are called (in many 
instances, indeed, fathers of superstition) 
among the apocryphal tracts, demonstrates 
nothing. Apocryphal does not mean spuri- 
ous, as the multitude is taught to believe: 
it means ^^ hidden,'' that is, a book, or 
something else, concealed from the general 
laity, because it contained truths about the 
true God within the soul of man which it 
was not deemed advisable that the general 
laity should know. As stated above the 
priests and Bishops shut out and dsetroyed 
every manuscript which was not in strict 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



99 



conformity with their system of Dogmatic 
Theology and sham Christianity {even as 
the church, both Roman and Protestant, 
does to this very day), which papal Rome 
and its satellites reared on the ruins of 
Truth which taught men that the Kingdom 
of God lies within their own being. 

It will be easily perceived why it was 
that the Church then dominant, which spent 
its days and nights in forgery, mutilating, 
interpolating, corrupting, or destroying 
every manuscript that contained aught 
that was repugnant to its intense desire for 
universal despotism, ignorance and super- 
stition, should exclude many Gospels 
from what is called the sacred Canon; 
and as the fathers were the humble 
slaves of this ambitious and obtrus- 
ive creature (the church) ; and as all their 
writings have descended to us, filtered 
through their unholy hands, it becomes im- 
possible either to rely on what the latter 
wrote, or on that which, coming to us from 
the most suspicious guardianship, is de- 
clared to have been their genuine compo- 
sition. I regard therefore with contempt 
the reported opinions of those writers on 

























any matter of sacred History; and I can- 
not conceal my surprise that in the present 
days any one of independent mind or un- 
biased reason should refer to them as 
authorities upon any controverted matter. 














CHAPTER V. 

HiSTOKY OF THE CaNON OF THE ENGLISH 

Bible. 

Is it not a most curious fact that no 
author of this country has ever given, in 
full detail, an authentic account of the 
CANON* of the Bible! 

*Bj canon is meant the list of the books composing 
the Bible. Among the early Christians it meant the list 
of the books appointed to be read in the churches; and 
later, it came to mean the list of books which were the 
sources and test of doctrines. In the early centuries it 
was opposed to the word apocryphal, which last had no 
injurious sense, meaning simply books which were not to 
be read in public, but only in private, and were to be 
kept in secret. Its present idea of "spurious" began, in 
a modified form, with Clement and Origen, but received 
its distinctive character only after the Keformation. — 
Extract from Davidson's Canon. 

Canon, defined, means: a. law or rule, specially in 
Church matters; the book of Holy Scriptures received 
as genuine by the Church; a dignitary of the church; 
who possesses a prebend or revenue allotted for the per- 
formance of divine service in a cathedral or collegiate 
church; a catalogue of saints, acknowledged and canon- 
ized by the Komish Church; the rules, or the book con- 
taining the rules of some monastic order; a collection of 
ecclesiastical laws. (Greek word meaning a straight rod.) 

Canonize, Tcan-un-ize, v. A. to declare a man a saint, 
and rank him in the catalogue called the canon. 

101 




















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



This has left void and unoccupied a 
space in the educational literature of this 
country which this work will fill. The sole 
purpose of the writer is to give in this 
treatise, those facts, which, the Church, the 
Christian Press and Clergy have for hun- 
dreds of years been attempting to conceal. 
It is for this very reason that the writer 
considers it necessary that a truthful and 
proper presentation of the facts, as pre- 
sented by the able historians, be given. 

The life of the ordinary individual here 
is rather brief; in fact, it is entirely too 
short to spend any time in trying to believe 
in an unknown God, or legends, miraculous 
stories and myths contained in Jewish 
Scriptures and taught by the Christian 
clergy. Those who have any doubt that 
the Bible is composed mainly of books 
which are anonymous, that is to say, no one 
knows who wrote them, or when they 
really were written, and that some of the 
Gospels were not written until long years 
after the death of the men, who, it is 
claimed, wrote them — those who doubt this 
had better withhold their judgment until 
they read and investigate. No theologian, 












ttU 







AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 103 



or intelligent investigator, whose opinion 
is based on facts, believes otherwise ; and, 
unless you investigate, your opinion is not 
entitled to any respect whatsoever. 

Every minister and priest who has in- 
vestigated the subject knows this to be 
true, for orthodoxy has long ago been 
forced to acknowledge these facts. 
When those ministers and priests who 
know these things are so evasive as not to 
speak up and inform their congregations 
as to the truth, but pose as eloquent di- 
vines, who pound their pulpits and thunder 
forth from the platform, to keep them un- 
der the impression that such a matter has 
never been heard of, and leading their 
members to believe that the books were 
received direct from God, and were 
written by the men whose names they bear, 
then, they are very deceitful indeed. 

Little wonder it is that these things pro- 
voke the hostility of learned men toward 
the modern church, and arouse the distrust 
of its members. 

Many ministers and priests, who thun- 
der at their congregations that they must 
believe the Bible or *^be damned,'' are 



















Plats LU.— THE FIGHT between the monster Tiamat. the personificaHon of chaos, darknesSi 

disorder, and evil, and Marduk (Merodach), the god of light, 

armed with thunderbolts. 

(From a bas-relief on the walls of the palace of Assur-nasir-pat, kine of Assyria (C. C. 

88s-86o), discovered at Calah (Nimrfid), now in the British Museum. 

A ierra>cotta tablet, inscribed in cuneitorm characters with the details of the combat and of Ih* 

defeat of Tiamat. is preserved in the British Museum. [Kouyunjik Gallery, Ho. K- 3437.) 





^9 




■H^H 




s 


^S 


^^H 




w^% 




^^^^?tM^^U 




^m 




^^H 


^J^^Sk 






m 


^^H 


^9 



PtATB LVII.-PART OF THE ASSYRIAN ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION, inscribed tf» 
cuneifarm characters on a fragment of a clay tablet, from the Library of Assur-bani-pal, king of 
Assvria (B. C. 668-626). at Nineveh. (British Museum, No. K. S419.) 
The text describes a time when water was the parenf of all things, when there was univarsal 

darkness, and when as yet there was neither heaven, nor earth, and when the gods themselves had 

not been begotten. Then the gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu were created, and afterwards the other 

gods, Shar, Kishar, &c., came into being. 







--1 



Plate LII. shows the Phantom Gods, said to be, armed with thunderbolts. Plate LVII. 
Snows an ancient tablet containing some of the fabulous stoi^ about bow G'od created the earth. 

IM 






AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 105 



greatly concerned and wonder why their 
frantic efforts, as eloquent divines, are 
futile and ineffectual. Their intellects have 
become so dulled by theology that they do 
not know that unless one believes and 
knows a thing to be true himself, he will 
never succeed in convincing or getting an- 
other to believe it. Startling though it 
may seem, this is the very reason why the 
minister, and priest, fail to impress their 
hearers and make them believe the Gospels 
when they tell what the Bible teaches about 
God as he has revealed himself to the 
Ancient Jews of Palestine. 

As stated above, no person, not even a 
f rocked divine, ** eloquent, ' ' can impress 
another with a fact that he himself does 
not believe or know to be true. Certainly 
no minister or priest has ever seen God; 
neither do any of them wear a medal, or 
hold a certificate certifying that they have 
saved one single soul from Hell or damna- 
tion. They, in reality, know no more about 
Heaven or Hell than the average boy does 
about the pots of gold he imagines are at 
the end of the rainbow. Those of the 
Christian Clergy who are familiar with 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

the formation of the Canon, or the true his- 
tory of the Bible, know Christian theology 
to be legendary and untrue, consequently 
they have no faith — do not themselves be- 
lieve in the doctrines they preach, there- 
fore, it is impossible for them to impress 
the masses and make them believe or have 
faith in spurious doctrines. The truth of 
the matter is that the minister, or priest, 
if he has studied the Canon of the Bible 
and the history of Christian Theology as 
he should, believes otherwise than that 
most of the books of the Bible are anon- 
ymous. Should not a minister be familiar 
with the entire history of the Bible he 
preaches from! Should he not consider 
it his duty to learn how it was compiled? 
Should not the Christian Clergy be thor- 
oughly familiar with the Canon of the 
entire Bible! Naturally you would think 
that the average divine would know some- 
thing concerning the origin of the books, 
how they were compiled, when they were 
compiled, and by whom they were com- 
piled. The real truth of the matter is that 
the average minister is very ignorant in- 
deed on these points, and it is one of the 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 107 



subjects least understood by him. Of 
course, they know all about ^* Faith," 
^^Hell,'^ Adam and Eve, Daniel in the 
lion's den, Moses, Abraham and Jacob, 
Jonah and the whale, but nothing about 
those unpleasant facts and truths which 
stamp Orthodox Theology as untrue. 

Those ministers who are familiar with 
the formation of the Canon of the Bible, 
and know these things, are very careful 
indeed to see that their congregations are 
kept in ignorance concerning those true 
facts which literally overwhelm Christian 
Theology. However, the reader will learn 
something before he has finished this vol- 
ume, for it is my purpose, and sole object, 
in publishing this work to make full and 
truthful inquiry into the very origin, com- 
pilation and development of the scheme 
and doctrine of divine revelation and in- 
spiration, which, we are told to believe 
according to the crude, vulgar and indeli- 
cate Scriptural writings of the ancient 
Jews of Judah as contained in the Chris- 
tian Bible. I shall begin at a date when 
the books of the Bible were not considered, 
nor looked upon, nor even believed to be 


























108 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

inspired. I intend to trace the doctrine 
of divine revelation and belief in inspira- 
tion from its very inception down to the 
present time. This, to be valuable and 
authentic, must be done fully in accord 
with the true facts of history and approved 
scholarship. I will show who first claimed 
that these anonymous books were inspired, 
and by what right they claimed they were 
inspired. I shall also show the character 
and intellectual ability of these affirmants 
who later compiled these anonymous books 
into the so-called sacred volume known as 
the Bible. I shall show that there are books 
in the Bible now which were excluded at 
one time; and that there are books which 
were once included, but are now excluded 
from the Bible. 

I shall also show what learned and pious 
councils of the Church voted on the Canon- 
ical list ; just what books they voted in and 
just what books they voted out. I shall 
also show when, and where, the myth (that 
we must believe the Bible and have faith in 
an unseen and unknown God, or be ^^eter- 
nally damned'^) originated. Councils like 
those of Ephesus, whose lists are nothing 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 109 

but copies or repetitions of preceding lists, 
I shall not allude to any more than I shall 
speak of certain Bishops and individuals 
whose opinions are unworthy of particular 
or special notice. 

All elements essential to the formation 
of the Canon are included, as well as all 
that is interesting or valuable of each 
Bishop's view or the Council's decrees. 
You, my reader, are requested to withhold 
judgment until you have turned the last 
page of this volume; for it is a duty you 
owe yourself to investigate, and oppose 
what history shows to be error. Oriental 
myths and legends are being palmed off 
on you to-day as the word of God by the 
Church. 

This work will give you facts which it is 
not difficult to prove to be true by referring 
to the ablest authorities. These facts are 
very easily accessible to most ministers 
and priests. However, those divines, who 
have studied histories which treat on the 
Canon of the Bible, are most careful to see 
that the unpleasant truths contained in 
them are never related to their congrega- 
tions, or receive due prominence in theo- 



N 



























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



logical discussion among the members, 
which if seriously understood and properly 
appreciated would most certainly make a 
wonderful alteration in the religious be- 
liefs of the civilized world. 

As I have requested my reader to hold 
in abeyance his judgment as to the truth of 
my work until he has investigated, I will 
in all fairness to him give here several of 
the most able authorities whose works are 
sources from which he can receive au- 
thentic information regarding the Canon 
of the Bible and f rona which I have often 
quoted in this work. 

ABLE AUTHOKITIES. 

Prof. Samuel Davidson, D. D., LL.D., is 
without doubt one of the ablest authorities 
on the subject of the Canon of the Bible. 
Prof. Davidson is also author of *^The 
Bible Criticism,'' two volunies; ^^The Ec- 
clesiastical Polity of the New Testament,'' 
which is a grand introduction to the New 
Testament, published in three volumes; 
^ ^ Sacred Hermeneutics Developed and Ap- 
plied;" translation of ^^Geisler's Compen- 
dium of Ecclesiastical History," published 





















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 111 

in four volumes; ^^The Canon of the 
Bible ;'^ also author of a large number of 
interesting and valuable articles written 
expressly for Biblical and ecclesiastical 
dictionaries. 

Still other able authorities are: Brooke 
Foss Westcott, D. D., author of modern 
works, *'0n the Canon of the New Testa- 
ment. ' ' Then we have the writings of the 
Christian Fathers, the ecclesiastical his- 
tory of Eusebius, which is the oldest Chris- 
tian history now extant. Should my reader 
care to verify statements made here he has 
only to go to the Chicago public library 
and get the 1870 edition of Dr. Westcott 's 
works ; also the 1877 edition of Prof. Dav- 
idson 's writings. 

There is also one set of the Christian 
Fathers in the Chicago public library 
which has been translated into English. 
This Ecclesiastical history of Eusebis is 
the 1872 edition of Bell & Daldy, London, 
England. Notwithstanding the fact that 
many ministers and priests think that 
most people should not study ancient works 
and that they are only for the professional 
gtudents and divines, I have given below 


























GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



the shelf reference of the Chicago Public 
Library which is divided into sections. Sec- 
tion M is set aside for religious works and 
the following is the shelf references of the 
works referred to above: ^^Eusebius Ec- 
clesiastical History '^ is 1. — 3331. Brooke 
Foss Westcott's works ^^On the Canon of 
the New Testament'' will be found at M 
489, while Prof. Samuel Davidson's Canon 
of the entire Bible, is M 88. 

The writer trusts that many will make a 
personal investigation of the claims of 
Christian theology for it is only in this 
manner that creeds, superstition and Dog- 
matic Theology will he put aside for the 
truth. It is to keep certain facts regarding 
the origin of the books of the Bible from 
becoming known, that the combine of eccle- 
siastics assert that the people should not 
be allowed to examine these works for 
themselves. They claim also that the writ- 
ings and problems are so recondite that 
they should be examined only by those who 
are competent students, having had a theo- 
logical education and training. They also 
do not hesitate to say that the people have 
no right to decide what they should believe 













AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 113 



f1 



regarding the origin of the books of the 
Bible. 

This, of course, is a very serious thing, 
and has led to grave errors and serious 
abuse. The object of all this is to prevent 
investigation by the masses and thereby 
ward off exposure, for if the problems in 
ancient works, treating on the Canon of 
the Bible, are so very reconite, surely, an 
intellect which has become clouded by 
preaching Dogmatic Theology and Oriental 
Myths, is no more competent, or no less 
liable to become confused in handling prob- 
lems of this kind, than others equally, if 
not more intelligent, than ^^frocked di- 
vines'' or '* secretive priests.'' The Chris- 
tian Clergy seems to overlook the fact that 
the masses ultimately are the absolute au- 
thority on doctrines and creeds. Ortho- 
doxy confesses and admits this to be true; 
for, when it is attacked, ministers attempt 
to explain to their congregations all about 
the evidences of Christian Theology. This 
is proven again when it is noticed how 
quickly the ministers drop or eliminate a 
creed or doctrine when the laity ceases to 
accept it or refuses to believe in it, no mat- 
























114 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

terliow much the Christian clergy had thun- 
dered from their pulpits that we must ac- 
cept it or ^^be damned/' or that it is essen- 
tial to our salvation and would save us 
from the post-mortem consequences of our 
misdeeds. All future changes or reforms 
in the Christian religion tvill come from 
the masseSy and only from the pulpit after 
the laity has forced the clergy to teach 
the truth and eliminate superstition and 
dogma. There is no question but that the 
people will ultimately force the minister 
and priest to become the percolator of truth 
instead of falsehood and superstition. 
The uninitiated have a very poor concep- 
tion of the obstacles and difficulties placed 
in the way of any one who attempts to 
place the true facts concerning the origin 
of the books contained in the Bible before 
the masses. The laity knows very little 
indeed about the system in use by the 
Christian clergy and religious press to sup- 
press those truths concerning Christian 
theology which they desire to conceal from 
the people. The systematic and strict 
censorship exorcised by the Christian press 
and clergy has heretofore prevented cer- 


























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 115 

tain unpleasant facts from becoming gen- 
erally known; for everything that might 
expose the truth is considered censorious 
by them for the sole purpose of forestall- 
ing investigation by the laity. There can- 
not be found to-day one among the re- 
ligious publications that would think of 
printing the truth about the origin of the 
books of the Bible as contained in the 
works of most able authorities. It is doubt- 
ful whether any magazine or any of the 
new thought and metaphysical publications 
would publish these truths, and it is only 
of late years that the daily press has 
broken away and now publishes articles 
censored by the Orthodox clergy. 

Those who know these facts, and are con- 
vinced that Christian theology is untrue, 
receive no assistance from the gentlemen 
of the black cloth, or the religious press in 
the dissemination or the propagation of 
these truths for, of course^ they dread ex- 
posure. 

If the reader doubts these statements 
the following will be a revelation that will 
convince him beyond any doubt. Yes, it 
will be a revelation to the good American 



























GOp, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

citizen, devout church member and faith- 
ful book-buyer who pays big money usually 
about ten times the actual cost for Ency- 
clopedias and Britannicas published and 
sold as being an authentic and absolute au- 
thority on all subjects. 

Sometime ago, previous to the publication 
of a later issue of the ^'Encyclopedia Bri- 
tannica^' the editors asked Prof. Samuel 
Davidson, who is everywhere recognized 
and known as the leading authority and 
greatest Protestant student in the world, 
to write for them a composition on the 
Canon of the Bible to be placed in the En- 
cyclopedia Britannica. 

Prof. Davidson, under the impression 
that the editors wanted truth and facts, 
agreed to write the article. Now before I 
relate what happened, for the reader's 
benefit, I wish to say a few words more 
about Prof. Davidson, who at that time 
was some eighty odd years of age, having 
devoted his life to investigating this sub- 
ject. He is an able English scholar of rare 
ability and learning; and at that time was 
the greatest living authority on the sub- 














AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 117 



ject, besides being the author of the works 
named on the preceding page. In writing 
the article for the ^^Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica'' he related truthfully just how the 
books were made into the Bible; naming 
those books which had been put in at dif- 
ferent periods and told the names of those 
books which had been eliminated or thrown 
out. 

He further told that the Bible had not 
at all times contained the same hooks that 
it does now. After the editors received 
Prof. Davidson's article they would not 
publish it until they had changed it. Ac- 
cording to Prof. Davidson, the editors 
^^ mutilated *' it. When certain parts had 
been eliminated it was published in the 
^^Encyclopedia Britannica" for the read- 
ers, as an article on the Canon. 

Prof. Davidson, after this had been done, 
published a book entitled ^^The Canon of 
the Bible,'' which contained the article in 
its original form. He stated in the preface 
of this book why he published it. 

The Christian press, and the Christian 
clergy have a complete system and method, 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



backed up by egotism and ignorant per- 
sistency, to convert the laity in those things 
which are not true regarding the Bible. 
This same system is used to ward off in- 
vestigation and to keep the people ignorant 
regarding certain unpleasant truths con- 
cerning Jeivish Scripture and Christian 
theology. 

As stated before, this work was not writ- 
ten with the expectation that it would be 
of interest to the ^' dyed in the wooV^ Chris- 
tian or those whose emoluments from de- 
luded church members are large; for it is 
vastly to their interest that the people he 
kept in ignorance of those things which 
prove that many books of the Bible are 
forgery. 

However, this class cannot gainsay or 
produce evidence to overcome the facts 
stated here. This work to be valuable 
should go over the entire history of the 
Bible, dating from the very beginning of 
the so-called Christian era, and give all 
facts and details down to the present time. 
There is much light and information that 
should be given about the hitherto vague 









v> 




— 1' 



a 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 119 



and obscured beginning of religious his- 
tory, the Christian era and Christian 
Church. 

The writer has not obtained his informa- 
tion from vague sources or even from the 
German rationalists, but states facts and 
will produce in this work, evidences ob- 
tained by Christian Historians and Com- 
mentators which are absolutely reliable and 
authentic. Some of the assertions made in 
this work are based on the statements set 
forth in the writings of the Christian 
Fathers and also contained in the ''Eccle- 
siastical History of Eusehius.'' Those who 
wish to refer to more modern works for 
verification of assertions made here can 
read Milman^s "History of Latin Chris- 
tianity/^ and the disquisitions of Lange, 
Schaffy Davidson, and Westcott, and, if, 
after reading what these able writers have 
to say, there still lingers any doubt that the 
Christian Bible is made up entirely of 
anonymous books and Gospels that are not, 
and never were inspired or of Divine origin 
hut are forgery, and were compiled into 
the Bible by certain shrewd individuals 













^^ 













whose qualities and pretensions were ques- 
tionable, to say the least, and whose sole 
intention, and object, was to impose upon 
credulous, superstitious believers, then you 
are too pious to want the TEUTH. 












hr- 



c^- ..- 




CHAPTER VI. 

History and Origin of the Books of the 

Bible. 

The investigator might as well under- 
stand that all Protestant students and The- 
ologians whose ideas and opinions are 
worthy of any respect whatever, know that 
many of the Books of the Bible are anon- 
ymous. 

Investigation into the origin, belief and 
development of the fabulous doctrines of 
Divine Revelation leads one to the conclu- 
sion that it is nothing less than a fable. 

Those who question this had better try to 
explain why there was a time when the 
very books that now compose the Bible 
were not considered inspired or the result 
of Divine Revelation. Let them tell us why 
they are now considered inspired by Ortho- 
doxy hut were not so considered at one time 
by Christian Theology; and let them tell 
us who first affirmed and stated that any 
of the Books were inspired and why they 
affirmed and claimed this. 

121 








i 














GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Again let he who scoffs at these state- 
ments tell ns all about the character and 
intelligence of those fathers who compiled 
these books into a Volume and called it the 
Holy Bible, and affirmed that we must be- 
lieve this the word of God. 

Let them tell us hy what authority the 
councils of the church voted certain books 
into the Canonical list, and ivhere they ob- 
tained the authority to say that we must 
believe in these books or be eternally 
damned. 

The absolute truth is that there are 
twenty-six books in the Old Testament that 
are anonymous, that is to say, no one knows 
where they were written, when they were 
written, or by whom they were written. 

As an instance, and fair illustration, let 
us take those two books of Kings, also the 
two books of Chronicles and the much 
talked of book of Judges, and attempt to 
learn something of their origin: and see 
what is the result: or whether they were 
written by the men whose names are 
signed to them, or whether it does not ap- 
pear that they are pure forgery. 

Taking these books as a sample, we find 




I 
















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 133 

that there have been many conjectures, sur- 
mises, guesses and opinions without proof 
as to who were the real authors: but the 
whole thing is purely conjectural as is 
shown by the fact that no two of the com- 
mentators engaged in the guessing agree. 
This in itself stamps the whole Doctrine 
of Divine Revelation and the belief that 
these books were inspired as well as the 
nefarious statement that we must believe 
the Bible or be damned as commentitious. 

ANONYMOUS BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

WHOSE AUTHOES AKE DISPUTED 

OR UNKNOWN. 

The names of the Old Testament Books 
which are anonymous follow here and are 
arranged in their order as they appear in 
the ordinary English Bible. 

THE ANONYMOUS BOOKS OF THE OLD 
TESTAMENT. 

Judges. 
Ruth. 

I. Samuel. 

II. Samuel. 
I. Kings. 



Genesis. 

Exodus. 

Leviticus. 

Numbers. 

Deuteronomy. 



Joshua. 



II. Kings. 













nn\ 








GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



I. Chronicles. 

II. Chronicles. 
Esther. 

Job. 

Proverbs. 
Ecclesiastes. 
Song of Solomon. 



Lamentations. 

Ezekiel. 

Daniel. 

Obadiah. 

Jonah. 

Habakkuk. 

Haggai. 



Many of course believe that Moses wrote 
the PENTATEUCH, (^^The Law''— 
Tor ah) (the first five books of the Old 
Testament) but the truth of the matter is 
that none of the ablest authorities or fore- 
most Protestant Students have any such 
idea, and no theologian whose opinion is 
entitled to any value would say so. No 
less an authority than Bishop Colenso, 
who is the author of a very valuable work 
entitled ^'On the Pentateuch'' (Chicago 
Public Library M 49) proves that Moses 
did not write these five books and that they 
were not written by a Mosaic author at 
all or are even of Mosaic Origin. 

Those who desire further evidence of 
this fact can consult Dr. Smith's ^^Dic- 
tionary of the Bible:" or McClintock and 
Strong's ^'Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theo- 
logical and Ecclesiastical Literature.*' 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 125 

The writer refers the reader to these 
authorities so he may see for himself that 
what is claimed in his work is not alone 
his individual opinion but is the opinion 
held by every able authority who has ever 
investigated the origin of the Canon of the 
Bible. 

The works named above are of great 
value, and considered official: being very 
exhaustive and a literal digest of about 
all that can be learned on any of the sub- 
jects treated in them. 

Again the writer desires that the reader 
understand that his object is only to speak 
against what is error, and inform those 
who read here where they can go and 
verify any statement made in this volume. 
This evidence is very easily accessible, and 
once the subject matter under discussion 
here, has its proper position in theological 
matters, and is given legitimate prom- 
inence among the masses, there will cer- 
tainly he quite a change in the ideas of 
the origin of the Bible and religious be- 
liefs of this day and that of on-coming 
generations. 

Should the reader care to consult any 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

of the above named books which are stand- 
ard orthodox works and writings, he can 
find them on the shelves of any large pub- 
lic library. 

It is true, of course, that many Divines 
and priests have these works : but they are 
very quiet and mouse like about what they 
contain. 

Of course their reason for keeping you 
in total ignorance about these facts con- 
cerning the origin of the books of the 
Bible, and those truths which literally 
paint Christian Theology as Commenti- 
tious, is obvious to all who understand. 

However, the individual who can come 
from under the hypnotic influence of tra- 
trine of Dogmatic Theology long enough 
to look the matter straight in the face, 
and desire the truth, will, if he consults 
any of the above named works, find that 
many of the Books of the Old Testament 
ivere not written by the authors whose 
names are affixed to them. 

Let the investigator be most careful to 
observe that where the authenticity, for 
any of these anonymous books is assumed, 
or claimed by tradition, absolutely noth- 










ERRATA LIST. 

Lines number sixteen and seventeen, on page 
126, should read— ^^ from under the hypnotic in- 
fluence of the doctrine of Dogmatic Theology 
long enough" 

Line number five, on page 201, should read — 
''all was not peaceful and honest during the days 
Avhen our Gospels were being manufactured." 

Line number twenty-three, on page 212, 
should read — 'abounded through my lie unto His 
glory/' 



i 










AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 127 

ing is said about or made known of the 
personal life, or known history of the 
party, said to be the author. 

It will be found that many of these 
books, now in the Bible, are not original 
writings, they are simply copies from old 
pre-existing compilations: this is espe- 
cially true of the older books of the Old 
Testament. 

No one really knows who wrote these 
historical, pre-existing compilations ; neith- 
er is it known where they were written: 
neither is it known when they were writ- 
ten, nor who the individual was that copied 
these writings and arranged them into the 
Gospels and books, we are now asked to 
accept as the Bible, and are told that un- 
less we do accept it as the word of God, 
we will be dammed. 

Nothing authentic or official can be 
found; neither is anything known as to 
just when this compilation was made, or, 
in other words, nobody knows anything 
about the origin or authors of these books. 

A great many who are preaching Chris- 
tian Theology know these facts and admit 
them to be true. To those who are on the 




^^s«^ 










I 










GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

inside it is a well known fact that Chris- 
tian Theology and Orthodoxy has long been 
forced to acknowledge these startling 
truths and facts. 

^'The Epistle to the Hebrews/' which 
hears the name of Paul, hut which every 
divine who is a scholar knows was not 
written hy Paul, is one of these hooks, as 
will he shown here. 

Does not any priest or minister who has 
studied the origin of the Canon of the Bible 
know this! If he has never studied the 
Canon he knows very little indeed about 
his subject. 

An able authority, in speaking of these 
matters, remarks very significantly as fol- 
lows: ^'Orthodoxy'' itself long since con- 
ceded this startling fact; every minister 
who has studied the subject knows it: and 
one of the things which provokes the hos- 
tility of intelligent men toward the church 
is that the clergy will not tell their con- 
gregations anything about it, hut keepr, 
them under the impression that such a 
thing has never been heard of, and that 
the books ivere written hy the very men 



















mm 








AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 129 

whose names they bear, and that they re- 
ceived them from God/' 

This writer well expresses the feelings 
of all intelligent, sincere men and women, 
who have studied the subject, for if there is 
anyone who has ever committed the crime 
of sacrilege it is the minister who know- 
ingly preaches from a book, which, if he 
cares to take the trouble, he can very easily 
find out is a forgery and no more the word 
of God than is the most ordinary hook of 
fiction. 

This minister is guilty of profaning the 
truth; doubly guilty of alienating the peo- 
ple from truth, and committing them to 
superstition and error, because he does it 
for gain. 

However, these things will all come out 
in time and when the minister and priest 
do fall from grace they will come a long 
way, for it has been many a day since they 
have had their sway. 

The question may be asked if the men 
whose names are signed to these books 
did not write them, who did? This is not 
known; however, it is very simple indeed 
to show that they were not of Divine Eev- 




J 

^WM 




















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



elation, neither were their authors in- 
spired. It is not a difficult matter, how- 
ever, to show that they were not written 
by or composed by Samuel, nor Moses, 
nor Joshua, nor David, nor any of the 
authors whose names are signed to them, 
as will be seen further on in the book. 

ANONYMOUS BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 

WHOSE AUTHOES AKE DISPUTED 

OE UNKNOWN. 

The names of the New Testament Books 
which are anonymous follow here as they 
appear in the ordinary English Bible. 

ANONYMOUS BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



St. Matthew. 
St. Mark. 
St. Luke. 
St. John. 
The Acts. 
Ephesians. 



Colossians. 

I. Timothy. 

II. Timothy. 
Titus. 
Hebrews. 
James. 



II. Peter. 

II. John. 

III. John, 
elude. 
Eevelation. 



We find by consulting Dr. Davidson's 
Canon, that he very much doubts the genu- 
ineness of *^The Epistle of Paul the Apos- 
tle to The Ephesians," also ''The Epistle 



















of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians,'' 
indeed there are not many who do accept 
them as reliable. 

Now this only leaves ten of ' ' The Epistles 
of Paul to the Apostle," and "The First 
Epistle General of Peter,'' and ''The First 
Epistle General of John," and possibly 
"The Revelation of John The Divine," 
which can be accepted as true and genuine 
writings contained in the New Testament. 
Revelation is constantly rejected by some. 

Regarding "The Gospel of St. Mat- 
thew," Dr. Davidson tells us, that it posi- 
tively was not written by St. Matthew as 
it is given in the Bible. 

He tells us that the "Gospel of St. 
Mark ' ' was never written by St. Mark, and 
that nobodv knows who was the author, 
and that the man, St. Luke, never wrote 
the Gospel to which his name is signed. 

Regarding The Gospel of St. John, Dr. 
Davidson says: 

"Its existence before 140 A. D. is incapable 
either of decisive or probable showing. . . . The 
Johannine authorship has receded before the tide 
of modern criticism; and though this tide is arbi- 
trary at times, it is here irresistible.'^ 

"No certain trace of the existence of the Fourth 




















H^nri" 





GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



Gospel can be found till after Justin Martyr, i. e., 
till after the middle of the second century." 

The Apostle St. John died a long time 
before this date, so he positively could not 
have written it. 

Professor Davidson also states that — 

^Tf it be asked whether all the New Testament 
writings proceeded from the authors whose names 
they bear, criticism can not reply in the affirma- 
tive." 

"Textual criticism has been employed to dis- 
credit the true dates of the present Gospels (i. e., 
to make them earlier than they really were), and 
the most exaggerated descriptions have been given 
of the frequent transcriptions of the text and its 
great corruption in the second century (i. e., the 
believers say the evidences of the late dates are 
corruptions of the second century) . . . But the 
evidence in favor of the authors traditionally as- 
signed to the Gospels and some of the Epistles, 
is still uncertain. A wide gap intervenes between 
eye-witnesses of the apostles or apostolic men that 
wrote the sacred books, and the earliest Fathers 
who assert such authorship. The traditional bridge 
between them is a precarious one," 

That The Epistle of St. Paul to Titus, 
the First Epistle of Paul to The Apostle 
Timothy, and The Second Epistle of Paul, 
The Apostle to Timothy were never writ- 
ten by The Apostle Paul, can be ascer- 

















^^ 






AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 133 

tained by consulting Davidson's Canon, 
Chicago Public Library Sec. M. 

Some of the more advanced scholars 
claim that all but four of The Epistles of 
Apostle Paul, are forgeries, and it will be 
recalled that on a previous page of this 
work the genuineness of ''The Epistle of 
Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians'' and 
his Epistle to the Colossians is questioned. 

Dr. Westcott informs us that nothing- 
was heard of the Second Epistle of St. 
Peter before the date of 170 A. D. and that 
very little, if anything, was known of it 
until about the end of the Third Century. 

Dr. Westcott claims that the Canonicity 
of the Second Epistle of St. Peter could 
not be claimed as genuine, or authentic, 
on historical or traditional grounds. About 
the only good word that this eminent au- 
thority has for it, is that its claims seem a 
little better than "The Epistle of Barna- 
bas" or "The Shepherd of Hermas," 
which have been so cunningly put into the 
background that we hear very little of 
them nowadays. 

The Book of Revelation is discarded and 
rejected by the Church of Asia, the very 





























134 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Church to which it was first addressed, 
and it has been rejected at all times by 
competent students and theologians whose 
opinions are entitled to any respect what- 
soever. 

For fifteen hundred years the Book of 
Revelation was never incorporated into 
the Bibles of the Eastern Christians: and 
was only included in their (see last chap- 
ter in this book) Bibles within the last 
three hundred years. 

Dionysius tells us that nearly all of the 
first Christians objected to and denounced 
the Book of Eevelation as being writings 
which contained neither common sense nor 
reason. Neither do they. 

These early Christians also denounced it 
as being forged by Cerinthus. Eusebius 
^^Ecclesiastical History," 

Dionysius did not hesitate himself to 
say that he does not believe that it was 
ever written by St. John, and goes so far 
as to state that he does not know who 
wrote it, although he is inclined to believe 
that Cerinthus wrote it: and later forged 
the name of St. John to it, so as to give 
these nonsensical writings prestige among 




























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 135 

the masses : St. John being one of the dis- 
ciples of Christ. 

Papias, another authority, thinks that 
possibly it may have been written by John 
the minister, or presbyter. 

Cains claims that Cerinthus must have 
written it. 

Now the reader can see that no two of 
these people agree, and if they cannot 
agree, or in other words, if it is utterly 
impossible to find out exactly who did 
write it, then what are we to think about 
having to believe in these notorious writ- 
ings or be damned^ 

The Book of Eevelations was so loudly 
denounced by the Eastern Christians, who 
had so much contempt and hostility for it, 
that the Bishops objected to having it read 
before the congregations and it was 
thrown out of the churches. {Westcott, 
Canon. ) 

Before a Western Church would admit 
it there had to be passed a special and 
separate decree affirming that it was au- 
thentic. 

This took place in the celebrated synod 
of Toledo in the year 671 A. D. 



























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Of course it will surprise the reader to 
learn that Beza, the consort and bosom 
friend of John Calvin and Martin Luther, 
said that he thought it might have been 
St. Mark who wrote it, but that they were 
not sure. 

Would the reader be surprised to learn 
that many Orthodox Theologians do not 
believe that the ^^ Epistle of Paul the 
Apostle to the Hebrews'^ has any right to 
be placed in the English Bible! The orig- 
inal letters of Paul bear this superscrip- 
tion, ^^PAUL, CALLED TO BE AN 
APOSTLE,'' but Paul's Epistle to the 
Hebrews, as contained in the New Testa- 
ment, in the English Bible of today, does 
not bear this superscription at all. 

Back in the times of the early Chris- 
tians no one thought or even claimed that 
St. Paul ever wrote the ^^ Epistle to the 
Hebrews, ' ' for do we not find that the early 
Christian Father, Tertullian (202 A. D.) 
says that Barnabas was the author^ 

Those who care to consult Wescott's 
Canon, will read that even in this very day 
the Clermont manuscript shows that Bar- 





















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 137 

nabas was the author, and it is written as 
the *^ Epistle of Barnabas.*' 

When we consult history, we find that 
the old Latin translation did not include 
it, and that it certainly must have been 
anonymous writings which were added 
later. History, and the babblings of priests 
and ministers, do not agree by any means. 

The old Latin scholars and early Chris- 
tian Fathers unite in ignoring it, and 
unanimously agreed that it should be ex- 
cluded from the Bible. 

Eusebius, ^^Ecclesiastical History/' 
Chicago Public Library, informs us that 
according to Origen, many claimed that 
Clement of Eome was the author, while 
some there were who said that Luke 
wrote it. 

When Origen attempts to solve this in- 
tricate problem and determine by whom 
God had sent us his written word, he flies 
up in the air, figuratively speaking, and 
exclaims, '^But who it ivas that really 
wrote this Epistle God only knows.'' 

Owing to the fact that there are so 
many conjectures and guesses as to its 
origin, and because its authorship was at- 



















m 









138 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



tributed to St. Paul, St. Luke, Barnabas 
and Clement of Eome, Philastrius (387 
A. D.), of Brescia, most strenuously ob- 
jected to it, and finally rejected the anony- 
mous manuscript. He was actuated to do 
this because in many of the churches it 
was never read nor mentioned. 

Grotius, in the seventeenth century, tells 
us that this Epistle to the Hebrews — 
whose authorship it has been as difficult 
to establish as it was to catch the Irish- 
man's flea; or as hard a problem to solve 
as it was to find out *^how old was Ann" — • 
was obviously never written by St. Paul, 
the Apostle. He claims that it was writ- 
ten by St. Luke. 

Grotius further informs us that to the 
best of his belief, the proper and original 
title for the Second Epistle of St. Peter 
should have been the * ' Epistle of Simeon, ' ' 
who supplanted and succeeded James as 
Bishop of Jerusalem. He does not hesi- 
tate to say that the Epistle in the Bible 
is not the original and genuine manuscript, 
but is made up from two Epistles by 
Simeon. 

Then, again, we have Dr. Wescott, whom 






















h^ 




AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 139 

no Theologian will hesitate to say is one 
of the ablest authorities, and the greatest 
Protestant student in the world, who says 
that the Epistle of Paul, the Apostle, to 
the Hebrews positively under no circum- 
stances can be claimed or shown to have 
been written by the Apostle Paul. 

Again, according to the ^^ Cyclopedia of 
the Bible/' by Kittos, the claim that St. 
Paul was the author and that it should be 
placed in the Bible at all is pure assimap- 
tion, with no conclusive evidence to back 
it up. 

Now, in the face of evidence, facts and 
opinions, as cited in these pages, have we 
not a very amusing spectacle in the elo- 
quent divines, who pound their pulpits and 
thunder forth from the platform that we 
must believe that these anonymous books 
are the word of God, or be damned? 

Then add to this the frantic efforts of 
the Christian Clergy, Christian Teachers 
and the Keligious Press, to have us believe 
these superstitions, antique and commen- 
titious teachings, or be eternally damned 
and burned forever in a pit filled with an 
unquenchable fire of brimstone. 















m 












Then add to this the fact that the Chris- 
tian Clergy, and the Eeligious Press are 
always on the alert carefully watching to 
keep these unpleasant facts concerning 
Christian Theology from becoming known 
to the masses, never hesitating to go to the 
extreme limit to prevent and forestall in- 
vestigation on the part of the laity. 

It is this system and method, which is 
backed up by egotism and ignorant per- 
sistency, and is being used to convert the 
masses to believe those things which are 
untrue about the Bible, that the intelligent 
citizen and students of today are opposing. 

Of course, the minister and priest will 
call them unbelievers, devils, and sinners; 
but, as we all have learned by this 
time, the average minister is about the 
boldest mouthpiece that speaks his little 
piece to the suffering public, for if you 
notice, they, as a clan, never miss the op- 
portunity to vent their wrath on some per- 
son, or set of individuals, who have not 
conducted themselves according to the 
Books of Holy Scripture.. 

It is some woman, some girl, some busi- 
ness man, or somebody, it matters little 



















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 141 

who, that is singled out by some divine 
for a roast when that gentleman of the 
black cloth rises before his congregation on 
the Sabbath morn. Somebody has stepped 
on the toes of the Holy Scriptures, and 
the divines forthwith go into contortions. 

However, this is so well known that it 
needs no further comment here, for the 
ministers would, if they could, or if they 
were allowed, destroy half the works and 
places of amusement of mankind, as every- 
thing becomes green to him who continu- 
ally gazes through green glasses. 

You may depend upon it though, that 
none of them will ever be caught looking 
keenly enough into the origin of the Books 
of Scripture to find out whether they are 
really the word of God, or whether they 
are simply the garbled, anonymous and 
counterfeit manuscripts of an ancient peo- 
ple, whose history as a race is worse than 
any that has ever lived. 

As stated before, the sole object in pub- 
lishing this book is to oppose error and 
offer evidence which is easily obtainable 
and which should have the full light of 
day in all theological discussions. 













m 













142 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



By the publishing of this book, and the 
volume *^The Immanence of God,'' which 
was published previous to this work, 
and which has had a remarkable sale, be- 
ing welcomed everywhere by the laity, the 
writer is not attempting to corrupt the 
masses; neither does he desire to destroy 
the morality of the people of this or any 
other country. 

However, this volume, as well as **The 
Immanence of God," is a st^^ong protest 
against the attempt of Christian Theology 
to elevate superstition and stupidity for 
truth and human intelligence. 

HOW THESE BOOKS AEE KNOWN TO BE 
SPURIOUS. 

Of course, the reader will wish to learn 
by what way these things are found out. 
He will naturally inquire into this when 
the statement is made that Moses never 
was the author of the Pentateuch (the 
first five books of the Old Testament), and 
he will be especially interested to know 
how these matters are learned when he is 
told that they have been proven. 

The student will be more than interested 












^^ 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 143 

in finding out by what system and method 
it has been determined that this book or 
that book in the Bible was not written by 
the individual whose name has been signed 
to it. 

Anyone can say that St. Matthew could 
not have written the Gospel to which the 
name of Matthew has been signed, but the 
next thing is to prove it. 

This is not as difficult a thing as many 
may suppose, and I will proceed to explain 
here how historians and scholars learn 
these facts. 

If the reader makes any investigation he 
will soon see that it is accomplished by 
what has become known as the *^ historical 
method of Bible Criticism." 

This system and method is well known 
to advanced scholars and honest theolo- 
gians. A minister may attempt to make 
light of it or ridicule its possibilities when 
he has an ignorant audience, but you may 
take it from the writer that he would never 
attempt it before advanced scholarship, 
any more than he would dare to match his 
knowledge of the Canon of the Bible 
against any historian of repute. The av- 









^^ 








■« 














erage Minister has a very ordinary edu- 
cation. 

By this *^ historical method'' of Bible 
criticism it is not at all difficult to detect 
a literary forgery, that is to say, it can be 
shown beyond the peradventure of a doubt 
that a book or manuscript was not writ- 
ten by the individual whose name has been 
signed to it. 

Of course, it is not always possible to 
tell just who was the author, but this is 
not necessary as long as the fact can be 
established that the person claimed as its 
author did not write it. 

We will now proceed to analyze some of 
the evidence that we have at hand that 
John, the Apostle, never wrote the Gospel 
to which his name has been signed. This 
will serve the purpose of illustrating how 
this ^'Historical Method'' of Bible Criti- 
cism is used, and will give my readers a 
seasonable opportunity to understand this 
method. 

Now, in the first place, the book or manu- 
script, by the very words which have been 
written into it, makes no claim that it was 
ever written by St. John, for do we not 

























AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 145 

read that it is the ^* Gospel according to 
St. John"? 

Again, in the second place, this ^* Gospel 
according to St. John" was never heard 
of and no evidence is to be found that it 
ever existed before the year 180 A. D. 

A7id in the third place, this date is about 
one hundred years after the known death 
of John, so how could he have written it? 

The writer trusts that nobody will be so 
foolish as to believe that Saint John was 
reincarnated one hundred years after he 
was dead, and wrote the Gospel to which 
his name has been forged. 

None of the Christian authors, or writers 
previous to the year 180 A. D., alludes to 
this Gospel, and it is not foolish to infer 
that it was not in existence until one hun- 
dred years after the death of St. John. 

This Gospel was first brought to the 
light of day among a class of people who 
held heretical opinions, and they never 
thought of attributing its authorship to 
St. John, and Davidson's ^^Introduction of 
the New Testament'^ tells us that its au- 
thorship was never attributed to John un- 
til about the end of the second century. 
























At this time the Fathers of the Church 
got busy and when the good people awoke 
one morning they had ^^The Gospel of 
Saint John/' and let us all hope and pray 
that the morning was a fine one; so let it 
be; verily so — Amen. 

Now does not this sacred Gospel of St. 
John state that Bethsaida is in Galilee 
(St. John, Chap. XII-XXI) ! There is not 
any such village or town in Galilee, and 
there never has been. 

Now, at this time the town of Beth- 
saida was to the east of the sea of Tiberias, 
and Galilee was located on the West Side 
of the sea of Tiberias. 

We are told that St. John was born and 
lived at Bethsaida, and will anyone be so 
Orthodox as to say that he was not familiar 
with the topography, or local geography, 
of his own home and birthplace? 

If St. John wrote the Gospel to which 
his name has been forged, how did he come 
to make this glaring blunder, and if he 
was so divinely inspired by God and was 
so familiar with the works of the divinity, 
why was he so utterly ignorant of the 
geographical conditions of his own home? 












nr 



-ti 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 147 

Of course, some ^ ^ dyed-in-the-wool Chris- 
tian" can find a way to get around this, 
for they are all good swimmers in the 
foggy sea of Christian Theology. 

Zebedee, the Jew, was the Father of St. 
John. Now, can someone explain why St. 
John himself, being a Jew, and the author 
of the Gospel bearing his name, should 
refer to the Jewish people in the second or 
third person, or as individuals 1 

The natural inference is that the real 
author of this book was not a Jew, for we 
find it in such words as these, *^ feast of the 
Jews'' (John V., Chap, I-V), **The pass- 
over, a feast of the Jews,'' *^the manner of 
the purifying of the Jews," and the law 
of the Jews is called **your law." And 
does he not speak of the Jews in the third 
person when he says ^Hheir law," and do 
we not have here a fair sample of the pious 
individual even in that day, as we have to- 
day, raging and vilifying the people when 
he calls the Jews *'the children of the 
devil"! 

Some of the other Gospel writers cite 
incidents and tell of miracles, stating that 
St. John was the only Gospel writer of the 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

four who witnessed them. Now, if this is 
true, and he wrote the Gospel, why did he 
fail to mention these miracles ! 

The truth of the matter is that St. John 
never wrote the Gospel to which his name 
was forged, and if the reader still has any 
doubt he will have it fully dispelled before 
he closes the last page of this book, for 
if there had not been plenty, and to spare, 
of evidence to prove this fact, this book 
would never have been written. 

Now let us proceed ; let us take the rais- 
ing from the dead of Jairus^ girl, and see 
what happens when it comes to shaping 
up Gospels and signing the names of men 
to them who have been dead a hundred 
years. 

To have one's daughter raised from the 
dead is no ordinary event, even during an 
age or miracles and divine revelations ; and 
a miracle or feat of this kind would have 
held the stage and fascinated the observer 
so he would not have failed to relate it in 
his Gospel. 

Of course, it will not be presumptuous 
to presume that a case of as much impor- 
tance as this would have been related and 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 149 

records of it carefully kept by those who 
were eye witnesses to the miracle. 

St. Luke and St. Mark both plainly state 
that St. John was the only one of the four 
Evangelists who was an eye witness to the 
miracle of the raising of Jairus' daughter. 

Now the strange thing is that the writer 
of the Gospel to which St. John's name has 
been forged fails to make the least mention 
of it. 

Why, if St. John was the author of this 
Gospel, did he fail to narrate this miracle? 

Do not St. Luke, St. Matthew and St. 
Mark speak of it and say that St. John 
was an eye witness? But of course the 
real author of this Gospel could not make 
mention of the miracle because the manu- 
script was written nearly a hundred years 
before this miracle took place, and was 
never written by St. John. 

All Bible students know that the trans- 
figuration is the only incident of its na- 
ture that is related in the Bible, and, of 
course, those who saw it would naturally 
speak out concerning it. 

Now, St. Mark, St. Matthew and St. 
Luke are all a unit in saying that St. John 


























was the only one of the four Gospel writers 
who witnessed it. 

However, the writer of the Gospel to 
which St. John's name was signed is as 
silent as the tomb about this unusual event. 

Now, if St. John wrote the Gospel, why 
does he not make mention of the Trans- 
figuration, for there is no question but 
he was an eye witness to the event, as do 
the other three Evangelists who not only 
narrate it, but most distinctly say that St. 
John was the only one of them who saw it 1 
Peculiar, isn't it? 

What has been stated here is only a part 
of the evidence that can be obtained to 
show that he never wrote the Gospel to 
which his name has been signed. 

Enough has been said, however, to give 
you a fair idea as to how scholarship learns 
these things by the ^^ historical method'' 
of Bible criticism. 

Now possibly the reader may have heard 
the bright and brainy Orthodox Christians 
claim so much for their ^ ^ Unanimous testi- 
mony of antiquity to the authenticity of 
the Gospels" that he would be pleased, 
and find it instructive as well as interest- 



I 















AND CHElSTIxiX THEOLOGY 151 












ing, to learn just what that wonderful tes- 
timony may be ; if so he may read on. 

The Epistles of Paul the Apostle, as 
they appear in the Bible, are the first 
Christian writings that have been given 
to us. 

This Apostle makes no reference what- 
ever to the Pour Gospels; positively does 
not mention them; neither does he quote 
from them. 

Now let the reader take his Bible and 
look through ^*The First Epistle of Peter, '^ 
then search through the '^ First Epistle of 
John,'^ now read on down through Eeve- 
lation, and he will find no mention what- 
ever made of these Four Gospels; neither 
will be be able to find any quotation from 
them. 

Now let us take ''The Acts," ''Second 
and Third John," also "the General Epis- 
tle of James," and "The General Epistle 
of Jude," and after carefully scanning 
them we can find no mention made of the 
Four Gospels ; neither is there any mention 
made of them, all of these writers being 
as silent as the tomb; never even a quo- 
tation. 




ira 























We are told that Clement of Eome, tlie 
latter part of the first century, succeeded 
these Four Apostles; but when we look 
through this Apostolic Father's Epistle to 
the Corinthians we find no mention what- 
ever made of the Gospel writers St. 
Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke or St. John. 

There are Four Epistles said to have 
been written by that early Christian 
Father, Ignatius (115 A. D.) ; his writings 
are generally believed to be authentic ; but 
here the result is the same, as we find no 
mention made of the four Gospels. 

The Epistle, which is said to have been 
written by Barnabas, the bosom friend of 
Paul, is as silent about the four Gospels 
as the books mentioned above. 

Now let us in our search take that book 
named ^ * The Shepherd of Hermas, ' ' which 
many say is the writings of Hermas of an- 
cient Rome (150 A. D.). 

This book, as will be seen, dwells mainly 
on ethical and doctrinal matters and makes 
no mention of the Four Gosepls. 

Now you have gone over all the Chris- 
tian writings and religious literature ex- 
tant from the murder of the Master, Jesus, 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 153 



up to about the first half of the second 
century, and what have you found that 
makes mention of the Four Gospels? 

Nowhere have we found any reference, 
any quotation, or any allusion to the Gos- 
pels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke 
and St. John. The writers of this litera- 
ture make many quotations from the Gos- 
pels of other writers, but none from the 
Four Gospels contained in the English 
Bible. What follows here is the writings 
of that Christian Father, Papias, who 
flourished along about 150 A. D. {Taken 
from Davidson's Canon.) 

"And John the presbyter also said this : ^Mark 
being the interpreter of Peter, whatever he re- 
corded he wrote with great accuracy, but not, 
however, in the order in which it was spoken or 
done by our Lord, for he neither heard nor fol- 
lowed our Lord, but, as before said, he was in 
company with Peter, who gave him such instruc- 
tion as was necessary, but not to give a history of 
our Lord's discourses; wherefore Mark has not 
erred in anything, by writing some things as he 
has recorded them; for he was carefully attentive 
to one thing, not to pass by anything that he 
heard, or to state anything falsely in these ac- 
counts.' " 

Now the important thing to determine 



















Platb LV.-CUNEIFORM TEXT OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR II.. Ttin^ of Babylon (B.C. 605-551). 

(Inscribed in archaic Babylonian cliaraciers upon a black basalt slab found among the 

ruins of Baby'on, now in the India OCice.) 

This text records the genealoRy and titles of Nebuchadnezzar, and declares his reverence for 

thegoJs Mardukand Npbo. To build a temple in honour of the god Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar h:i3 

brought together gold, silver, precious stones, bronze, cost' y woods, &c.; and he describee iha 

great works, architectural and other, whioh he undertook to the glory of his gods, the P -auty of h Js 

citv, and the good of his people. Herestoredand completed Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel, the gresl 

walls of £abylon. yrhich fus. father Nabopolassar had begun, and he fortified Babylon on all sideD. 





Some curious and senseless relics wblcb theology reverences and publishes In Its Bibles. 

161 














AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 155 

here is, does he mean the Gospel we have 
which is said to be according to St. Mark? 

We have no human means of knowing 
personally jnst what he said, or referred 
to, as all his writings are destroyed, and 
this much we get from ^^Eusehius^ Ecclesi- 
astical History.'^ 

Eusebius tells us that he was a man that 
cared little for authentic records, prefer- 
ring traditional reports. 

The writings of such an individual are 
not reliable, and Eusebius himself tells us 
that he was a person of very limited com- 
prehension. 

He also informs us that Papias' tradi- 
tions of the Master, Jesus, which he had 
were 'father too fabulous J' 

Of course Papias has not said that he 
had ever seen the writings. He tells of a 
tradition left by John the minister. 

It is nothing unusual to believe that 
someone would think of getting together 
some records or data about the life of the 
Master, Jesus, even if it were years after 
his murder. 

Taking it for granted that Papias does 
mean the Gospel of St. Mark, what evi- 















I 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



dence is there to show that the sayings 
of the Master, Jesus, as contained in it 
are true and authentic! 

Let us examine the writings said to be 
the Historical and true lineage of the Gos- 
pel of St. Mark and see whether it is au- 
thentic. 

What follows here is just exactly what 
will be found, and after the investigator 
has read it he will have all he will ever he 
able to get, and will be on an equal footing 
with the best learned theologian, and fully 
as competent to say whether the following 
historical lineage of the authenticity of the 
Gospel of St. Mark is to he helieved or 
discredited. 

Here it is — Eusehius tells us that Papias 
relates that St. John the minister, or pres- 
hyter, said that St. Mark said that St. 
Peter said that the Master, Jesus, said 
this, and that, and thus and so. 

Eusehius goes further and tells us that: 

"Such is the account of Papias concerning 
Mark. Of Matthew he has stated as follows: 
^Matthew composed his history (logia) in the 
Hebrew dialect, and every one translated it as he 
was able.' '' 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 157 



Now what does Papias refer to? Does 
he mean the Gospel as per St. Matthew? 

He has just told us that St. Matthew 
composed his Book of the Gospel in He- 
brew. 

Our present Gospel of St. Matthew is 
in Greek. Who can account for this? 

If he means St. Matthew's Gospel, when, 
where and by whom was it translated? 

Of course, as usual, nobody knows. 
Questions of this kind go forever and for- 
ever unanswered. 

The statements that have been made by 
those who try to explain, or apologize, be- 
cause nobody can answer this question, are 
the rankest assumptions, as is the state- 
ment that the translation was by some cer- 
tain person. 

Even Jerome himself states that the 
name of the translator is not known. 

At one time there was a Second Gospel, 
to which the name of St. Matthew was 
signed, and which was read by the Chris- 
tians. 

Are we certain whether the Orthodox 
Christian Church of today has the proper 
one or not ? Who can tell ? 























m] 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Of course it would really make very little 
difference, for the modern Church would 
swallow anything as the word of God that 
had the stamp or bore the slightest resem- 
blance to ancient, mouldy, superstitious 
writings; so a little thing like getting a 
counterfeit in the shape of a Gospel would 
make no difference at all to it. 

To be brief and plain, no theologian or 
scholar who knows anything about the mat- 
ter under discussion here believes that the 
Gospels of either St. Mark or St. Matthew 
were alluded to. 

Tischendorf, in his work, ^^When Were 
Our Gospels Written f admits it. 

Davidson grants it, and says: 

"Papias speaks of Matthew and Mark; but it 
is most probable that he had documents which 
either formed the basis of our present Matthew 
and Mark, or were taken into them and written 
over. 

"The canonical Gospels of Matthew and Mark 
cannot be identified with the logia of Matthew, 
and the things said and done by Jesus which 
Mark wrote, mentioned by Papias. That writer 
himself does not identify them." 

This, of course, is evidence enough to 
convince the ordinary individual that he is 
























on the right track. But, of course, should 
this individual happen to be a ^* dyed-in- 
the-wool Christian, ' ' these things will make 
him spit fire. However, small storms of 
theology are never dangerous and soon 
over. 

We have now followed the historical line- 
age of the authenticity of the Four Gospels 
and examined writings and literature and 
went through all the manuscript which 
comprises all the Christian literature ex- 
tant from the time of the cruel death of 
the Master, Jesus, and we have now ar- 
rived at a period of about one hundred and 
twenty-one years after his death; and we 
have failed to find the slightest reference 
and absolutely no evidence whatever of 
their having any existence previous to this 
period. 

The first writer who seems to have had 
sense enough to accept records, instead of 
accepting tradition, was Justin Martyr, 
whose works were written 150 A. D, 

Now let us see what this writer, who set 
aside traditional reports and gossip, pre- 
ferring to appeal to the written records, 
has to say about these Gospels. 















m 








160 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Upon examination it is found that he 
quotes parts of the Old Testament; and 
there have been found other quotations 
which appear at first glance to have been 
taken from the New Testament, but they 
are not. 

Those Christians who have made frantic 
and strenuous efforts to pad and bolster 
up Christian Theology by claiming that 
Justin Martyr had the Four Gospels have 
been a dismal failure. 

From the Old Testament Justin Martyr 
made over three hundred quotations, to 
be exact, he quotes from it three hundred 
and fourteen different times. 

He gives the name of the book from 
which he makes one hundred and ninety- 
seven of these quotations. 

However, it will be found on examination 
that when he makes those quotations, which 
are claimed to be from the New Testament, 
he fails to make any mention whatever of 
the Four Gospels. 

Instead of this, he very plainly states in 
many different places that he is quoting 
from the ^^ Memoirs of the Apostles/^ 

Of course, he speaks of them as ''Gos- 
























pels," but there were any number of re- 
ligious books in circulation among the 
Christians and the Church in those times, 
and the term Gospel, as he used it, is no 
proof, nor does not necessarily mean, the 
Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. 
John and St. Luke. 

He relates that he discovered in these 
writings ''all things concerning Jesus 
Christ. " The " Acts of Pilate ' ' is another 
of the books from which he quotes, and he 
does not fail to make mention of it either. 
He also names the '^Memoirs or Gospels 
of Peter'' as one of the books from which 
he quotes. 

Now can anyone explain why he has 
failed to give the names of the Four Gos- 
pels when he gives the names of the Old 
Testament Books from which he quotes, as 
well as those which were New Testament 
books, to him, if as Christian advocates 
claim, he quoted from them? 

Of course, the only inference that can 
be drawn is that he never quoted from the 
Four Gospels. The inference is plain that 
he was referring to an entirely different 
set of writings. 
























162 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

Yet in the face of all this, we have the 
Christian advocate and duped theologian 
who, in the most pious manner, will stand 
up and positively assert that he certainly 
recognized the Four Evangelists and their 
Four Gospels. 

However, this will only show how disin- 
genuous Orthodoxy and Christian Theology 
is, and gives the reader some knowledge of 
the nature of their claims when matters of 
this kind are brought to the light of day. 

Orthodoxy, because of its unfairness, 
readily accepts evidence which is purely 
secondary when it would be rejected under 
any other circumstances. 

Of course they would have us believe 
that God turned himself into a man and 
consulted with men as to what he would 
or should do about certain conditions that 
existed among the children of Israel. 

What can a student or investigator think 
when Orthodoxy says that we must accept 
the ^^ Memoirs of the Apostle'' for the Gos- 
pels of St. Matthew, St. John, St. Luke and 
St. Mark ; that they were our Gospels which 
went under a different name in those days! 

Of course this could not be true, for the 















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 163 

reason that we find only a few of the hun- 
dred quotations which Justin Martyr 
claims he obtained from the ^'Memoirs of 
the Apostle" to be like the parallel in the 
New Testament verses. 

Now if Justin Martyr quoted from our 
Gospels, why are the passages different 
from those contained in the New Testa- 
ment passages? 

This shows that he had a different set 
of books than those now called the Four 
Gospels, and that they were not in ex- 
istence at that time. 

Again, he cites passages from these 
books which are not contained in the Four 
Gospels. 

Justin Martyr quotes from the ^^ Me- 
moirs of the Apostle" the statement that 
there was ''a hot fire kindled on the river 
of Jordan at the time Jesus waded into the 
water to he baptized/' 

No statement of this kind is to be found 
in the Four Gospels. 

Justin Martyr writes that the ^^ Mem- 
oirs of the Apostle" says that the same 
individual (the devil, of course) which used 
to sit in every tree top in Judea, if we be- 













^W 













164 GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

lieved all the Bible writers say, which ap- 
proached Jesus and tempted him also got 
busy and tempted him again as he was 
coming out of the river of Jordan. This 
fact is not mentioned in our Four Gospels. 

Now the writer's advice to the reader is 
to keep these facts and incidents well in 
mind, as the writings of Justin Martyr are 
the strongest arguing point and favorite 
battleground of Christian Theology and 
presumptuous Orthodoxy. 

Justin Martyr was one of the foremost 
polemical authors that the early Chris- 
tians can boast of, and of course, the 
modern Church always makes the most 
strenuous efforts to have it appear that he 
quoted from the books of the Four Evan- 
gelists. 

It is needless to remark, of course, that 
in this they have failed. 

Theophilus, in the year 180 A. D., is the 
first author who has anything to say re- 
garding the Four Evangelists, and then he 
simply speaks of John as being an inspired 
individual, and does not do him the honor 
of calling him an Apostle at all. 

Of course, inspired individuals of both 
sexes are as common and plentiful today 
























as one could wish, but we never think of 
doing them the honor of calling them 
Apostles; in fact, inspired mentalities of 
today do not attract much honor or atten- 
tion, let alone being called Godly men and 
women. 

Along about the time of 200 A. D. there 
flourished an author whose name was 
Irenaeus, who is mentioned in another part 
of this book; he it was who first makes 
mention of all four of the Evangelists and 
the Four Gospels. 

Now you have been given a full report, 
and all the evidence as far as the testi- 
mony and ** evidence of antiquity*' can be 
obtained, regarding these Four Gospels up 
to the first of the third century. 

Briefly recapitulating, the **real testi- 
mony of antiquity '* and specific knowledge 
which we have obtained up to this, the 
beginning of the third century, is as fol- 
lows: 

1 — The books which we have now for the 
Four Gospels were not known or made 
mention of until about 150 A. D. ; almost 
one hundred and twenty years after Jesus, 
the Master, was dead. 

2 — Previous to 150 A. D. no author 






















.-—< 


m 




> 


**-it: 


Tt-'. 




makes the slightest reference to these 
Books. 

3 — We then come to Papias' passages, 
which have been shown to be mere tradi- 
tional reports instead of real evidence of 
the actual existence of the Gospels. 

4 — Justin Martyr does not quote from 
them; neither does he mention the Four 
Evangelists. Whenever he quotes from 
other books he always gives the name of 
the book from which he has taken the 
quotation, and the inference is that he did 
not have these Gospels. If he did, why did 
he fail to mention them? 

5 — One hundred and fifty years after 
the death of Jesus, Theophilus refers very 
slightly to the Gospel of St. John, or 
rather John's Gospel, and he said he was 
just a plain, inspired man. The supply of 
Saints must have run out shortly after 
the third century, as we have none with 
us these days. 

6 — One hundred and seventy years after 
the death of Jesus, which was 200 A. D., 
we learn something of the Four Evangel- 
ists and their Gospels. 

7 — Irenseus first mentions all four of 
these Gospels 200 A. D. 













AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 167 













Exact and tangible evidence is at all 
times of great value, and essential to all 
who have the honesty and courage to util- 
ize it. 

If we are honest, sincere and unpreju- 
diced, this kind of evidence or testimony 
is appreciated far more than is traditional 
reports or secondary evidence. 

Now, to be exact, after Irenaeus, 200 A. 
D., mentions the Four Gospels, they are 
constantly referred to by the early Chris- 
tian Fathers, and when the Orthodox The- 
ologian murmers and prattles about ^^the 
unanimous evidence and testimony of an- 
tiquity regarding the authenticity of the 
Four Gospels" he is only stating how these 
books and Gospels were quoted by the 
later Christian Fathers, such as Clement 
of Alexandria, Eusebius, Origen and Ter- 
tullian. 

After 200 A. D. these books were in evi- 
dence and circulated under the name of 
the Four Evangelists, and, of course, the 
Christian Fathers quoted from them. 

Now how did these later Christian Fath- 
ers know any more who wrote those books, 
or their real authorship, than the reader 
does'? 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

They did not know as much as we do, 
for they did not have the advantage of the 
critical scholarship that we have today. 

Indeed, the Fathers did not pretend to 
vouch for the genuineness of these books 
or their authorship, any more than you 
would be able to vouch for the authorship 
or guarantee the writings of Junius, were 
you to quote from them. 

The later Christian Fathers as a matter 
of course spoke of these books by the 
names under which they were known. 

The earlier Christian Fathers would, of 
course, have given different names to the 
books had they been known under different 
names than those given them. 

Dr. Wescott tells us that ^^The main tes- 
timony of the Apostolic Fathers is there- 
fore to the substance and not to the au- 
thenticity of the Gospels/^ 

Now the reader should stop and think 
that we have only a few Christian manu- 
scripts up to the beginning of the third 
century. 

Dr. Wescott speaks of it as the ^' dark 
age of the Christian literature/' so little 
of it is there in existence that he just as 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 169 

good as admits that the Gospels of the 
Four Evangelists did not exist previous to 
150 A. D., when he says : 

"A few letters of consolation and warning, two 
or three apologies addressed to a heathen, a con- 
troversy with a Jew, a vision, and a scanty glean- 
ing of fragments of lost works, comprise all Chris- 
tian literature up to the middle of the second cen- 
tury/' 

So far in this chapter it has been suffi- 
cient to simply point out that no Christian 
writer previous to 150 A. D. has quoted 
from the Four Gospels, all of them having 
quoted from other Gospels or traditional 
reports. 

Again, it is sufficient for the present for 
the reader to understand that at all times 
Orthodoxy struggles to make it appear 
that the quotations of these writers were 
taken from the Four Gospels. 

For instance, Ignatius writes an Epistle 
to Polycarp and does not say that it is 
quoted from another book or that it is not 
original with himself; here is one of the 
passages contained in the Epistle: ^^Be in 
all things ivise as a serpent, but harmless 
as a dove." 


















I 






GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

^^Be ye therefore wise as serpents and 
harmless as doves.'' This, the Christian 
will tell you, is taken from St. Matthew. 

Polycarp writes, ^^Be Merciful, and ye 
shall obtain mercy/' 

We are told that this is the celebrated 
Beatitude. However, here we have another 
passage very similar: 

^'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy.'' 

Nearly all of these passages, and there 
are a number, are different from those con- 
tained in the Four Gospels, 

Again, none of the writers of these pas- 
sages claim that they are from the New 
Testament, 

If they were the same, that would not 
he proof that they were taken from the 
Four Gospels, or that the four books said 
to have been written by the Evangelists 
were in existence, as it can be shown that 
there were other Gospels and books in 
existence which had many passages in them 
that were the same as those that are now 
in the Four Gospels. 

The name of one of these books was 
* * Protevangelion, " which was also known 












i 













. AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 171 

as the *' Gospel of James.'' This book of 
the Gospel was used for about twenty-five 
years before the Four Gospels were un- 
earthed. 

Tischendorf says it existed in the first 
quarter of the second century. 

Origen tells us that this book was widely 
circulated about the end of the second cen- 
tury. Justin Martyr mentions it also. 
This book is now included in the Apochry- 
phal New Testament. 

These books and Gospels, which are con- 
tained in "The Apocryphal New Testa- 
ment" are, because the Christians did not 
care to vote them into the Canon of the 
Bible, not considered a part of the English 
Bible. 

The book "Protevangelion," which is 
contained in ' ' The Apocryphal New Testa- 
ment," we will now use to compare the 
passages contained in its XI and XXVII 
Chapters with those passages contained in 
the II Chapter of St. Matthew and the 
First Chapter of St. Luke. 

In order to make the parallel passages 
in each of these books stand out plainly 
they will be printed in "black face" type. 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



My reader will now be able to see that 
many quotations which Christian Theology 
swears by and claims were copied only 
from the Four Gospels could have been 
quoted from the Apocryphal Gospels which 
they have rejected, and there is no doubt 
that they were. 



Protevangelion XI. 

And she (Mary) took a 
pitcher and went out to 
fill it with water. And 
behold a voice saying, 
Hail, full of grace; the 
Lord is with thee, blessed 
art thou among women . 

And behold the angel 
of the Lord . . . stood 
by her and said, Fear not, 
Mary; for thou hast 
found favor with God. 

The angel replied, Not 
so, Mary; for the Holy 
Ghost shall come upon 
thee, and the power of 
the Highest shall over- 
shadow thee ; therefore 
also the holy thing which 
shall be born of thee shall 
be called the Son of the 
living God. 

Thou shalt call his 
name Jesus, for he shall 
save his people from their 
sins. 

And behold, thy cousin 
Elizabeth, she has also 



Luke I. 

28. And the angel 
came in unto her, and 
said: Hail (thou that 
art) highly favored; the 
Lord is with thee; blessed 
art thou among women. 



30. And the angel said 
unto her: Fear not, Mary; 
for thou hast found favor 
with God. 

35. And the angel an- 
swered and said unto her: 
The Holy Ghost shall 
come upon thee, and the 
power of the Highest shall 
overshadow thee; there- 
fore also, that holy thing 
which shall be bom of 
thee shall be called the 
Son of God. 



36. And behold, thy 
cousin Elizabeth, she 


























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 173 



conceived a son in her 
old age. And this is the 
sixth month with her who 
was called harren. 

For nothing shall be 
impossible with God. 

And Mary said, Behold 
the handmaid of the Lord; 
be it unto me according 
to thy word .... 

Chapter Xn. 
.... And said whence 
is this to me, that the 
mother of my Lord should 
come to me? 

For lo, as soon as the 
voice of thy salutation 

came to my ears, that 
which is within me leaped 
and blessed thee. 

Protevangelion, XXVII. 

Then Joseph was pre- 
paring to go away. For 
there was a great com- 
motion in Bethlehem by 
the coming of wise men 
from the East, saying. 
Where is he that is bom 
King of the Jews? For we 
have seen his star in the 
east, and are come to 
worship him. 

When Herod heard this 
he was excee dingly 
troubled; and, having 
sent messengers to the 
wise men and the priests, 
he inquired of them in 
the praBtorinm, saying to 
them, Where is it written 



hath also conceived a son 
in her old age; and this 
is the sixth month with 
her who was called barren. 

37. For with God noth- 
ing shall be impossible. 

38. And Mary said: 
Behold the handmaid of 
the Lord; be it unto me 
according to thy word. 
And the angel departed 
from her. 

43. And whence is this, 
that the mother of my 
Lord should come to me? 



44, For lo, as soon as 
the voice of thy saluta- 
tion sounded in mine ears, 
the babe leaped in my 
womb for joy. 

Matthew II. 

Now when Jesus was 
born in Bethlehem of 
Judea, in the days of 
Herod the King, behold 
there came wise men from 
the East to Jerusalem. 

2. Saying, Where is he 
that is bom King of the 
Jews? For we have seen 
his star in the east and 
are come to worship him. 

3. When Herod the 
King had heard these 
things he was troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with 
him. 

4. And when he had 
gathered all the chief 
priests and scribes of the 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



among you of Christ the 
King, that he should be 
born? 

Then they say unto 
him, in Bethlehem of 
Judah; for thus it is 
written, And thou, Beth- 
lehem, in the land of 
Judah, art not the least 
among the princes of 
Judah; for out of thee 
shall come a governor, 
who shall rule my people 
Israel. 

And having sent away 
the chief priests, he in- 
quired of the wise men 
in the praetorium, and 
said unto them. What 
sign was it ye saw con- 
cerning the King that is 
born? They answered, 
We saw an extraordina- 
rily large star, shining 
among the stars of 
heaven, and it so out- 
shined all the other stars 
that they became not visi- 
ble; and we know that a 
great king has come in 
Israel, and therefore have 
come to worship him. 

Then said Herod to 
them. Go and make dili- 
gent inquiry, and if ye 
find him bring me word 
again, that I may come 
and worship him also. 



So the wise men went 
forth, and behold, the 
star which they saw in 
the east went before 



people together, he de- 
manded of them where 
Christ should be born. 

5. And they said unto 
him, In Bethlehem of 
Judea; for thus it is writ- 
ten by the prophet, 

6. And thou, Bethle- 
hem, in the land of Judah, 
art not the least among 
the princes of Judah; for 
out of thee shall come a 
governor, who shall rule 
my people Israel. 

7. Then Herod, when 
he had privily called the 
wise men, inquired of 
them diligently what time 
the star appeared. 



8. And he sent them to 
Bethlehem and said. Go 
and search diligently for 
the young child, and when 
ye have found him, bring 
me word again that I may 
come and worship him 
also. 

9. When they had 
heard the king, they de- 
parted; and lo, the star 
which they saw in the 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 175 



them, till it came and 
stood over the cave where 
the young child was, with 
Mary his mother. 



Then they brought forth 
out of their treasures, 
and offered unto him gold 
and frankincense, and 
myrrh. 

And being warned in a 
dream by an angel that 
they should not return to 
Herod through Judea, 
they departed into their 
own country another way. 



east went before them till 
it came and stood over 
where the young child 
was. 

10. When they saw 
the star, they rejoiced 
with exceeding great joy. 

11. And when they 
were come into the house, 
they saw the young child 
with Mary, his mother, 
and fell down and wor- 
shiped him; and when 
they had opened their 
treasures, they presented 
unto him gifts, gold and 
frankincense, and myrrh. 

12. And being warned 
of God in a dream, that 
they should not return to 
Herod, they departed in- 
to their own country an- 
other way. 



It can be seen from these quotations, the 
parallel words having been printed in 
^^ black face'' type to more distinctly bring 
out their identity, that when the authors 
quote the sayings of some certain individ- 
ual, Jesus, for instance, the passages are 
usually alike and the writers agree ; but in 
relating some incident they do not agree. 

This proves, of course, that there possibly 
were writings in existence which contained 
the words of Jesus and that they were 



c^v^ 





h — r^ 













( 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

copied by these authors when they wrote 
their stories. 

However, even if these Fathers did write 
sayings, or use phraseology containing a 
prefatory note of explanation such as 
^^The Lord Jesus Christ says," or ''It is 
written," which are more or less similar 
to those passages contained in the Four 
Gospels, does this in itself produce evi- 
dence to show that they really were in 
existence 1 

Even Dr. Wescott acknowledges that it 
does not prove it, by the following : 

"No evangelical reference in the Apostolic 
Fathers can be referred certainly to a written rec- 
ord. It appears most probable, from the form of 
the quotations, that they were derived from oral 
tradition/^ [These quotations do not make it] 
"necessarily follow that they (the Four Gospels) 
were already in use, and were the actual source 
of the passages in question.^^ 

As has been shown on these pages, there 
is nothing to show that the Four Gospels 
had any existence before 150 A. D., neither 
is there anything to show just who wrote 
these manuscripts after this date or when 
or where it was done. 




11 











AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 177 












We will now take the writings of one of 
the early Christian Fathers and see if they 
will shed a little light on the matter. 

Previous to the Gospel of St. Matthew 
being mentioned or known, Papias writes 
of the ^'Gospel according to the Hebrews,'* 
and'in it he tells about the woman who was 
accused of divers sinful doings before the 
Lord God. 

Later on it can be discovered that both 
Irenaeus and Eusebius are a unit in claim- 
ing that the Ebionites made use of only a 
single Gospel; this Eusebius claimed was 
the ^'Gospels according to the Hebrews"; 
and Irenseus claimed it to be the ^* Gospel 
according to Matthew." 

Moreover, we have evidence to show that 
Jerome, 420 A. D., and Epiphanius 403 A, 
D., both claim that the ^^ Gospel according 
to Matthew" and the ^^ Gospel according 
to the Hebrews" were the very same man- 
uscript or book of Holy Gospel, which went 
under two separate and distinct names. 

The *' Gospel according to the Hebrews" 
was first written and first used, and it is 
obvious that some individual later forged 
the name of St. Matthew to the Gospel. 








N — C 


















CHAPTER VII. 

The Doctrine and Scheme of Divinity 
AND Inspiration. 

Just when the wise and sagacious Fa- 
thers, to whom it was left to decide when 
they had voted enough books that were 
anonymous and books that were not anony- 
mous into the Bible, concluded to close the 
Canon nobody knows. 

We have no assurance whatever that 
they obtained all of the books, that is to 
say, all the books that were in existence at 
this time, as the authors of the different 
books now in the Bible refer many times 
to other books, which seem to have been 
lost, as we know nothing of them. 

The following references to certain 
books are instances of this fact, and to 
familiarize my reader, we will now open 
the Bible and turn to the ^* First Book of 
Samuel,'' tenth Chapter, 25th verse, and 

178 




M 













V V 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 179 

read: ^^Then Samuel told the people the 
manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a 
book, and laid it up before the Lord. And 
Samuel sent all the people away, every 
man to his house.'' 

Of course, nobody will accept the myth 
that he ever laid it up before the Lord, as 
the Lord never appeared to Samuel nor 
anyone else, for that matter; so where is 
this book, and why have we not got it in 
the Canon? 

Now turn the leaves to '*The Second 
Chronicles," ninth Chapter, 29th verse, 
and read: ''Now the rest of the Acts of 
Solomon, first and last, are they not writ- 
ten in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and 
in the prophecy of Ahijah and Shilonite, 
and in the visions of Id'do, the seer, 
against Jeroboam, the son of Nebatf 

Now of course we would all enjoy it very 
much to know all about this book, espe- 
cially the visions of this seer, but the wise 
Fathers somehow must have lost it among 
their piles of ancient manuscript, for we 
have it not. 

Once more let us turn the leaves of 
*' Second Chronicles," thirteenth Chapter, 







? 















? 






GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



22nd verse, and read: ''And the rest of 
the acts of Abijah, and his ways and say- 
ings, are written in the story of the 
Prophet Id'do.'* 

Where can we learn of the acts of Abi- 
jah? Who knows but what they may be 
very important and we should have them 
to save us from being damned! 

Turn the pages to Numbers, twenty-first 
Chapter, 14th verse, and read: ''Where- 
fore it is said in the book of the wars of 
the Lord, what he did in the Eed Sea and 
in the brooks of Arnon.'^ 

This book of the wars of the Lord, 
would, no doubt, be interesting, for we 
would all like to read of a war, especially 
one carried on by the Lord. 

Now find I. " Chronicles, ' ' twenty-ninth 
Chapter, 29th verse, and read : ' ' Now the 
acts of David the King, first and last, be- 
hold, they are written in the Book of Sam- 
uel, the seer, and in the book of Nathan, 
the prophet, and in the book of Gad, the 
seer.'' 

Where is this hook? 

Still one more, then we will proceed. 
Turn to the First Book of Kings, eleventh 



























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 181 

Chapter, 41st verse, and read still more 
about the acts of Solomon which were writ- 
ten in a book of which we have no record. 

^^And the rest of the acts of Solomon, 
and all that he did, and his wisdom, are 
they not written in the book of the acts of 
Solomon r' 

Where is this book which is said to con- 
tain the wisdom of the mighty Solomon, 
tvho lost out in the end and ivent down 
just like any other mortal? 

Besides these, there are a number of 
other books which are in circulation today, 
that it is claimed were written by prophets 
and other men of the Lord God, but they 
are not in the Canon. 

There is a good deal said about the books 
that have been voted into the Canon being 
inspired, but they were not considered so 
by the Jews and by some they were not 
even considered sacred. 

The Jews divided their manuscripts, 
sacred literature and books into three dif- 
ferent divisions, as follows : The Books of 
*'The Law*' (Torah) they put into the first 
section; into the second section they put 
the Books of ^*The Prophets'* (Nebiim), 
























gw 




while into the last of the three divisions 
they put ^^The Scriptures '* (Kethubim) or 
the Hagiography. 

Into the first section, *^The Law,'' they 
put the Pentateuch (the first five books of 
the Old Testament) 

Into the second section, ' ' The Prophets, ' ' 
the books of the so-called prophets, name- 
ly: ^Moshua, Judges, Euth, First Sam- 
uel, Second Samuel, First Kings, Second 
Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 
Ezekiel; the twelve minor prophets, Hosea, 
Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Na- 
hum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zech- 
ariah, Malachi." 

Into the third section went ^ ^ The Hagio- 
grapha," or the following writings: 
** Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, 
Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, First 
Chronicles, Second Chronicles, and the 
Song of Solomon." 

In those days, as today, the Jews liked 
The Books of *^The Law'' best, that is, 
the five books said to have been written by 
Moses, but which are known to have been 
forged. 

Next to those fabulous ancient myths 



















n 







AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 183 

they liked ''The Prophets/' while they 
thought very little of ' ' The Hagiographa. ' ' 

This appears true when we recall the 
fact that Jesus himself very often referred 
to ''The Law'' and the "Prophets," but 
nowhere can it be shown that he ever spoke 
of the books in the third section. 

The ancient Jews never considered the 
books in the third division sacred, and it 
remained for the Christians to raise them 
to the dignity of sacred writings; and in 
this they have taken more liberty than 
Jesus ever thought of. 

It will be seen that when they were first 
written they were not surrounded with a 
halo of sacredness, nor was there any evi- 
dence to show that they were inspired, as 
is claimed today. 

This idea and scheme of inspiration 
seems to have been an afterthought which 
ambitious priests and busy theologians 
have not neglected to keep healthy. 

We are told that it was Ezra who first 
thought of the scheme and idea of found- 
ing the Canon of the Bible, and that Nehe- 
miah put the finishing touches on it, al- 
though real evidence to prove this is lack- 

























184 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

ing. However, it matters little whether 
this is so or not, as it has nothing to do 
with finding out who wrote the books. 

It must be said, though, that Ezra and 
Nehemiah, if it was they that founded the 
Canon, had very poor conception, were 
anything but judicious, and were destitute 
of critical sagacity, as nobody at that time 
looked upon any of the books as being in- 
spired, except the first five in the Old 
Testament. 

The doctrine, scheme and idea of divin- 
ity and inspiration were still an embryo 
in the womb of the ancient Jews' imagina- 
tion, but when it was once born it grew 
fast and strong, until the idea that Grod 
himself wrote these ancient manuscripts 
and fabulous myths has hypnotized a cer- 
tain part of the people of the earth into the 
belief that the Jews of Judah really were 
God's chosen people, and that he really did 
come and talk to them and advise them all 
about their bloody battles and reprehen- 
sible conduct.* 

*The determination of Antiochus to stamp out Judaism 
produced a recoil. It culminated in the attempt of 
Antiochus to force the Jews publicly to eat the flesh 
of swine sacrificed on God's altar in honor of Jupiter. 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



CHBISTIAN CKEDULITY. 

Many there are today who are so desti- 
tute of individuality that they cannot, 
or dare not, think for themselves, and, as a 
consequence, drink in the exhortatory 
words of the priests and ministers with 
open-mouthed credulousness, that would 
put to shame the ruralness of a country boy 
at a York State Fair ; for it is only in the 
souls of those who do not think for them- 
selves that the thundering words of the 
minister ever finds a responsive chord. 

{Notice it states God's altar.) One aged scribe refused, 
and was followed by a mother and her seven sons, who 
all suffered martyrdom with the extremities of torture. 
{Nice conduct for Godly people.) In the city of Modin, 
Mattathias, a priest of the Asmonaean family, slew with 
his own hand a Jew, who was about to offer idolatrous 
sacrifice, and the royal officer who presided. Aided by 
his five sons, he rallied the faithful round him, threw 
down the heathen altar, fled to the mountains, and raised 
the standard of liberty, on which were inscribed M. K. 
B. I., the initials of their Hebrew war-cry, Mi-Kamoica 
Baelim, Jehovah, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among 
the gods?" (Exod. xv. 11), from which the insurgents 
got the name of Maccabees, whence the eldest son and 
successor of Mattathias is known in history as Judas 
Maccabaeus. Under him they were victorious. Anti- 
ochus, stricken by God, died of a loathsome disease. The 
Maccabees recovered Jerusalem, purified the Temple, 
and restored its worship, holding for eight days {in De- 
cember, B. C. 165) the first "Feast of Dedication," 
which continued to be annually observed in our Lord's 
time (John x. 22). 



















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Those who at this late day are still rid- 
ing in the high- wheel chariot of Orthodoxy, 
sitting with a pious face in a straight- 
jacket of conventionality, chaperoned by a 
brought-up-on-the-bottle minister, happy 
with the belief that the wheels are so high 
that the Devil cannot snap at their toes, 
and the clergyman such a good pilot that 
nothing can happen, are temporarily well 
off; but they had better have a heed to 
the word which says, ^^The Kingdom of 
God is within you/' for the day will surely 
come when they will see that they should 
have believed and had faith in the God 
within their own soul instead of the un- 
known God of the Hebrews. 

Eeferring to the ancient Jew again, we 
must do him the justice of saying that up 
to the time of the founding of the Canon of 
the Bible, he had not been so credulous or 
foolish as to believe that these books or 
Gospels were the works of God or that 
they were inspired. If he did, his belief 
as far as we can learn was confined to 
those books to which the name of Moses 
was signed, and of course, Moses, being 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 187 



Jewish, this may have helped the belief 
along. 

That this is true will be seen later on, 
when we begin to examine and determine 
what they did to these books — that is to 
say, how they mutilated and changed them 
at will, ivhich they ivould not have done 
had they considered them the word of God. 

When they wished to alter a book they 
would simply eliminate some of its writ- 
ings, and substitute something of their 
own composition. 

And for this reason, according to Dr. 
Davidson, the last twenty-six or twenty- 
seven Chapters of Isaiah were written by 
some anonymous prophet, of which, I have 
no doubt, there were plenty on hand. 

The Book of Daniel, which has been eulo- 
gized for its prognostication and prophe- 
cies, was never written until about 165 B, 
C, which was during the Maccabean time. 

This was years after the events and inci- 
dents which its author prophesied would 
take place really had happened. The re- 
ligious writer who transcribed it from the 
Hebrew and wrote it in Greek put in, for 
good measure, the euctical of Azarias, 



























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



**The Song of the three Children/' **The 
history of Susannah/' *^Bel and the 
Dragon. ' ' 

The Eoman church cherishes these as 
much as it does other writings which it ac- 
cepts as the word and the works of God, 
while the Protestant Church refuses to ac- 
cept them. Certainly the inconsistencies 
of Christian Theology are appalling to 
contemplate. 

The inference is plain that the men who 
manipulated these manuscripts, or had 
charge of the books which were later voted 
into the Canon, did not believe that thev 
were inspired and handed direct from God. 
If they did not, why should we? 

If God had given the children of the 
earth these books as his sacred word and 
advice, for their eternal comfort and phys- 
ical wellbeing, would he not have seen to 
it that critical prophets, ambitious writers, 
and would-be Apostles did not alter and 
mutilate them at will I 

At least it would seem so, and Davidson, 
in referring to this fact says : 

"Men of prophetic gifts wrote in the name of 
distinguished prophets and put their productions 




























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 189 

with those of the latter, or adopted and wrote 
them over after their own fashion. The fiftieth 
and fifty-first chapters of Jeremiah show such 
over-writing. To Zechariah's authentic oracles 
were attached chapters ix-xiv., themselves made 
up of two parts, (ix-xi, xii-xiv) belonging to dif- 
ferent times and authors prior to the destruc- 
tion of the Jewish State by the Babylonians." 

"The soferim, as the successors of the prophets, 
must have revised and corrected the sacred books 
to some extent. We need not hesitate to allow 
that they sometimes arranged parts and even 
added matter of their own. In the time of the 
Canon's entire preparation they and the priests, 
with writers and scholars generally, redacted the 
national literature, excluding or sanctioning such 
portions of it as they saw fit.'' 

"From Ezra's treatment of the oldest law books 
we infer that he did not look upon them as in- 
violate. Venerable they were, and so far sacred; 
but neither perfect nor complete for all time. 
. . . The redaction to which he submitted 
them shows no superstitious reverence. AYith him 
canonical and holy were not identical. Nor does 
the idea of an immediate divine authority appear 
to have dominated the mind of Nehemiah and his 
scholars in the selection of books." 

The scribes who followed Ezra, "seeing what 
he did, would naturally follow his example, and 
would not scruple, if it seemed best, to revise the 
text in substance as well as form. They did not 
refrain from changing what had been written, or 
inserting fresh matter" 

"The difference between them, (the Palestinian 




























190 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



and Alexandrian versions of the Prophets and the 
Hagiographa), often remarkable, prove that those 
who had most to do with the hoolcs did not guard 
them as they would have done had they thought 
them infallibly inspired/' 

That the books of the Old Testament 
were not considered sacred as soon as they 
were first written, or that they became in- 
spired immediately after is proven from 
evidence, which shows that the ancient 
Samaritian Bible of the Jews contained 
only the Pentatench (the first five books 
of the Old Testament). 

The Samaritian Bible was accepted by 
all the tribes, as it was the Holy Book of 
all the Jews. 

When, because of political reasons, dis- 
sension came among the Jews, and the 
tribes became divided, ten of them set off 
with Jeroboam to Samaria, where they 
formed a new government, and carried 
with them all their religions books, na- 
tional literature and traditional manu^ 
scripts. 

So great was the hostility between the 
ten tribes that followed Jeroboam to Sa- 
maria and the two tribes that remained 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 191 



behind that the Samaritians' hatred caused 
them to reject the new books which Jews 
of Jerusalem subsequently appropriated. 

These books which the Jerusalem Jews 
subsequently adopted are the ones that 
Christian Theology today claims were in- 
spired. 

Divine origin or inspiration was not es- 
sential to having a book admitted to the 
Old Testament when it was being compiled. 

A book to be admitted must possess 
other and more important considerations 
than inspiration and divine origin before it 
would pass the test of admission in those 
times. 

The most important considerations were : 
^J^^ What was the book's creed, its doctrine 
and what was known of its character. 

What about the writer? Was he an or- 
thodox Jew or not? 

These things were of more interest to 
the Christians than the fact of the books 
being inspired or of divine origin, for in 
those days the Bible had very little indeed 
to do with the forming of the beliefs, for 
the beliefs shaped and formed the Bible. 

A long time after some of these Gospels 




























GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



and books had been written, THE 
PROCESS OF DEIFICATION BEGAN, 

The process of apotheosis in vogue in 
those days did not make it difficult for a 
book to find entollment among the books 
supposed to have come from God, for as 
the years passed its origin would become 
forgotten, and the idea would soon blossom 
out that the book was of God because it 
was written about God. 

Then, of course, the book became divine 
and inspired. 

But even at that, it is questionable 
whether the Jews did not in reality allude 
to such divinity as is naturally attributed 
or assigned to soul possibilities, physical 
phenomena and human attributes ; and it is 
doubted if they really had a personal Deity 
in mind, as theology would have one think 
today. 

However, 100 A. D. the belief in these 
books and their divinity had become so 
pronounced that it would have been a very 
dangerous thing for any one to have at- 
tempted to change them, for it seems from 
what historians say that the belief in their 
divinity and sanctity increased very rap- 




^ -(j' 




AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 193 



idly the latter part of the first century be- 
fore the Christian Era; in fact, so much 
so that Sacredness, Divinity and Canon- 
icity were about identical. 

Previous to and about the time of the 
death of Jesus, the Jews had become very 
fanatical over their fabulous and fictitious 
religion which they had come to look upon 
as being the word of God, and some of 
them did not hesitate to state that if any 
person dared to believe in or read any 
books outside of the Orthodox Jew's 
Canon, he would lose all hope of immortal 
life. 

One writer says: — 

"The degree of authority attaching to the 
Biblical books grew from less to greater, till it 
culminated in a divine character, a sacredness ris- 
ing even to infallibility." 

The last overhauling that the Old Testa- 
ment had at the hands of the Jewish body 
of advisers took place at Jamnia; it was 
then decided by this council that the ^ ' Song 
of Solomon'' and ''Ecclesiastes," or The 
Preacher were ungodly and did ^* pollute 
the hands," that is to say, they were not 


























194 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



of divine origin; Christian Theology as- 
serts today that they are of divine au- 
thority. 

To sum the whole thing up, the belief 
and idea that the books that we now have 
in the Old Testament were inspired, or of 
divine origin, did not arrive simultane- 
ously with the books but was developed 
some time after they had been written^ and 
their origin had been forgotten. 

This is certainly true of *^The Prophets*' 
which was contained in the second division 
of the Jewish sacred literature and also 
the ^ ^ Hagiographa ; " and, if we base our 
judgment of the ^^ Pentateuch" on what we 
have already learned of how certain writ- 
ings became sacred books and the work of 
God, we can very safely assert that those 
in the ' ' Pentateuch ' ' are of the same brand, 
and will close our review of the Old Jewish 
Testament, for the present at least. 













CHAPTER VIII. 

Religious Sects, Denominations, and 
Antagonism. 

The pages of History, and the long 
weary stretches of antiquity have very lit- 
tle indeed to give us in the shape of au- 
thentic information regarding the accounts 
or true chronicle of the Canon of the Jew- 
ish Bible.* 



*The Jewish Canon. Before the Captivity there 
are only faint traces of the mode of preserving the 
sacred writings. Moses ordered "'The Book of the Law" 
to be put "in the side of the ark" (Deut. xxxi. 26; cp. 
2 Kings xxii. 8). To this was subsequently added that 
of Joshua, and other Annals; and later, Proverbs, and 
some Prophecies, for Daniel refers to the "Books" (ix. 
2), Zechariah to "the Law and former Prophets" (vii. 
12), and Isaiah to "the Book of the Lord" (xxix. 18; 
xxxiv. 16). Ezra and the "Great Synagogue" most prob- 
ably determined the Canon of the Law in its final shape; 
and Nehemiah "gathered together the acts of the kings 
and the prophets, and those of David" when "founding 
a library" for the second Temple (2 Mace. ii. 13), c. 
432 B.C. The first notice of the Old Testament as a 
collection of writings is in the Prologue to the Greek 
translation of Ecclesiasticus (b.c. 131), which specifies 
the "Law and the Prophets, and the rest of the books." 
(Cp. Luke xxiv. 44.) Philo Judaeus (B.C. 20 — a.d. 40) 

195 







1 





I 


















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



However, some records have been kept 
intact and little by little we are able to fol- 
low its formation and history down 
through the past ages, including the death 
of that most sublime soal, *^The Master 
Jesus.'' 

Immediately after his murder, at the 
hands of his enemies, believers in his teach- 
ings, multiplied rapidly, but among them 

refers to constant use of "the laws and oracles produced 
by the prophets, and hymns and other" (writings). Jo- 
sephus (a.d. 38 — c. 100) enumerates twenty-two books as 
"divine," viz. "five of Moses, thirteen of Prophets (in 
which Job was probably included), and four of "hymns 
and directions of life." He mentions all the books of 
the Old Testament as Canonical, except Job, Proverbs, 
Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, to which he does 
not allude, as none of them furnished any materials for 
his work. He also adds, that, since the death of 
Artaxerxes (B.C. 424), "no one had dared, up to his day, 
to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or 
to make any change in them" {Against Apion, 1, 8). 
Thus, the Jewish Canon was finally settled in the time 
of Ezra and Nehemiah, and its contents were identical 
with our own, our thirty-nine books being grouped so 
as to accord with the twenty-two letters of the He- 
brew alphabet (the twelve minor prophets counting as 
one, Euth being coupled with Judges, Ezra with Nehe- 
miah, Lamentations with Jeremiah, while the two Books 
of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles were reckoned as one 
each). That these did not constitute the entire Hebrew 
sacred literature is evident from the fact that reference 
is made in the Old Testament to fifteen other books, 
while others again are mentioned in the Apocrypha which 
were rejected from the Jewish Canon. The whole of the 
books included in the Jewish Canon are quoted in the 
New Testament as "Scripture," except Judges, Ecclesias- 















A>^D CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 197 

there arose a spirit of dissension and un- 
rest which eventually resulted in the for- 
mation of different denominations and 
sects. 

These numerous sects, however, could 
boast of no books or religious literature 
until St. Paul concluded to write his Epis- 
tle to reinforce his position and protect 
his followers from the antagonism and in- 
sinuations of the different denominations. 

Historians show that at this time, as to- 
day, there was a struggle between the dif- 
ferent sects for supremacy and power, 
each desiring to obtain as many adherents 
as possible, which, naturally of course, re- 
sulted in clashes, quarrels, and unpleasant 
altercations, but have we not these same 
conditions today when we view from the 



tes, the Song of Solomon, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah; 
but, in addition, the "Book of Enoch" is quoted by Jude 
(verse 14). Jesus also quotes from an unknown 
book (Luke xi. 49-51; John vii. 38), and so, too, James 
(iv. 5, 6). Jerome notices that the twenty-two books 
coincide with the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and 
that the five double letters coincide with the five double 
books (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Jeremiah). 
He gives the contents of the Law, Prophets, and Hagi- 
ographa in exact accordance with the Hebrew authori- 
ties, as mentioned above, classing Daniel with the last. 
The Talmud also agrees in the same list, and gives the 
writers of the several books. 










(i 




















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



gallery of independence the hatred that 
the Roman Church has for the Protestant. 

Eeligious literature such as Gospels, 
Revelations and Epistles, were, about 
thirty years after the death of Jesus, writ- 
ten in record time and soon were circulated 
by each denomination for the purpose of 
strengthening their adherents and to pro- 
mulgate their own doctrines. 

So great became the strife between these 
several sects that the writers, in order to 
give their Gospels prestige, would, if they 
thought it best, sign the name of some indi- 
vidual well up in religion, or affix the name 
of some Apostle, so that their writings 
would carry greater authority. 

Plagiarism, stolen passages, and literary 
forgery was no crime in those times and 
the biggest literary thief was able to write 
the most impressive Epistle or Gospel and 
claim it the word of God. 

Most vicious altercations took place and 
charges of piracy, plagiarism and falsified 
manuscripts were openly made and re- 
sulted in a condition of chaos. 

An instance of this is shown when Dion- 
ysius charges that his compositions and 
















"■-td 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 199 

writings were altered and falsified, and it 
really is quite amusing to learn that this 
great Christian writer would be able to 
console his feelings by remarking that the 
'^Scriptures of the Lord'' had also been 
treated in the same ivay. 

The following by the Christian His- 
torian ^'Moshiem'' well verifies the above: 

"There were a number of commentaries filled 
with impositions and fables on our Savior's life 
and sentiments, composed soon after his ascent 
into heaven, by men who, without being bad, per- 
haps, were superstitious, simple, and piously de- 
ceitful. To these were afterwards added other 
writings, falsely ascribed to the most holy 
apostles by fraudulent individuals." 

The following also by the same historian 
shows that these so-called Christian writ- 
ers thought it no sin or error to lie, deceive, 
and steal; but looked upon these traits as 
being very commendable when it was done 
to help along the cause of religious truth 
and piety. 

Here follows just what Moshiem says, 
and should my reader care to verify the 
article, he had only to go to the Chicago 
Public Library and read for himself, which 















^ 





Plats LXrV.-l-EMPLE 07 DIANA AT Plate LXIIT.-THE EMPEROR 



EPHESUS. (Contemporary with St. Paul*, 
showing the iinaRC of the eoddess which 
had fallen from heaven, ano the columns 
sculptured on (he lowest drum. (Now in the 
British Museum. ) (From a Roman Coin.) 



THUS. Born A. D. ai : died 
A. D. 8i. (From.a maroleliead 
found at Porta Portese. Rome.) 
(Now in the British Museum.) 



PlatrLX.-THE EM- 
PEROR AUGUS- 
TUS. Bom in Rome 
B.C. 63; died AD. 
14. (From a marble 
head in the Vatican 
MuBeum. 



The brick on which Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed he was king, and other plates of bygond 
I10I7 days of religion and strife. 

200 














would be just what the writer desires those 
who read here to do, for they will then 
have their own eyes opened, and learn that 
the days when the Gospels were being 
the days when our Gospels were being 
manufactured. 

Moshiem^s comment: — 

"This vice early spread among the Christians. 
Of this no one will doubt who calls to mind the 
numerous forgeries of books under the names of 
eminent men, the Sibylline verses, and I know 
not what besides, a large mass of which appeared 
in this age (the second century) and subsequently. 
I would not say that the orthodox Christians 
forged all the books of this character; on the con- 
trary, it is probable that the greater part of them 
originated from the founders of the Gnostic sects. 
Yet that the Christians who were free from 
heterodox views were not wholly free from this 
fault is too clear to he denied/' 

To further enlighten the investigator, 
and for the benefit of those of my readers 
who desire to follow this subject under the 
searchlight of truth, and authentic ac- 
counts and records of History, as we have 
it today, I will proceed to give in this work 
the names of some of these books and writ- 
ings which were fashioned to suit the 

















202 





GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



wishes and serve the personal interest of 
these so-called early Christians, who have 
the honor and credit of having founded 
the Gospel and handed down to ns the word 
of God. 

It should be understood of course that 
these books and writings are outside of 
those now included in the New Testament. 

Those titles which are given here in 
italics will be found today in *'The Apoc- 
ryphal New Testament'^ * and those which 
are in Eoman letters are no longer in ex- 
istence. This list is as another writer 
gives it. 

* * The Gospel of Paul, the Gospel of Peter, 
the First Epistle of Clement to the Corin- 
thians, Ignatius' Epistle to the Romans, 
his Epistle to the Ephesians, his Epistle 
to Polycarp, the Gospel according to the 
Egyptians, the Epistle of Polycarp to the 
Philippians, the Testaments of the Twelve 
Patriarchs, the Sibylline Oracles, the Gos- 



*Should the reader care to obtain a copy of ''The 
Apocryphal New Testament," which contains all the old 
Gospels and Epistles now extant, which were written 
during these times, when the early Christians flourished, 
he can get it from de Laurence, Scott & Co., Chicago, 
HI., U. S. A. Price, $1.50. 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 203 

pel according to the Hebrews, the Gospel 
of Perfection, the Gospel of Philip, an- 
other Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of 
Judas Iscariot, the Gospel of Basilides, 
the Gospel of Thaddaeus, the First Gospel 
of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, the Gospel 
of the Birth of Mary, the Gospel of Scyth- 
ianus, the Gospel of Tatian, the Gospel of 
Life, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of 
Andrew, the Gospel of Bartholomew, the 
Gospel of Eve, the Gospel of the Encratites, 
the false Gospels of Hesychins, the Gospel 
of Jude, the false Gospels published by 
Lucianus, the Gospel of Barnabas, the 
Acts of Peter, the Acts of Paul, the Acts 
of Peter and Andrew, the Acts of John, 
the Acts of Mary, the Acts of Andrew, the 
Acts of the Apostles made use of by the 
Ebionites, the Acts of the Apostles by Leu- 
cius, the Acts of the Apostles used by the 
Manichseans, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, 
the Preaching of Paul, the Preaching of 
Peter, the Doctrine of Peter, the Acts of 
Philip, the Acts of Thomas, the Acts of 
Barnabas, the Judgment of Peter, an Epis- 
tle of Christ to Peter and Paul, an Epistle 
of Christ produced by the Manichaeans, the 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Epistle of Themison, the Epistles of Paul 
to Seneca, the Epistles of Seneca to Paul, 
the Eevelation of Peter, the Eevelation of 
Paul, the Eevelation of Bartholomew, the 
Eevelation of Cerintims, the Eevelation of 
Stephen, the Eevelation of Thomas, the 
Eevelation of Moses, the Eevelation of Es- 
dras, the Protevangelion or Gospel of 
James, Thomas^ Gospel of the Infancy of 
Jesus Christ, the Acts of Pilate or the Gos- 
pel of Nicodemus, the Epistle of Barnabas, 
the Epistle to the Magnesians, the Epistle 
to the Trallians, the Epistle to the Smyr- 
nmans, the Epistle to the Philadelphians 
(forgeries nnder the name of Ignatius), 
the Epistle to the Laodiceans (a forgery 
under the name of Paul), the Pastor of 
Hermas, the Gospel of Cerinthus, the Gos- 
pel of Marcion, the Gospel of Truth, the 
Gospel of Apelles, the Second Epistle of 
Clement to the Corinthians, the Gospel of 
Longinus, an Epistle of Jesus Christ to 
Ahgarus, King of Edessa, an Epistle of 
Ahgarus to Jesus Christ.^' 

Those titles which have been given here 
are not by any means all, in fact, only a 
partial list of the many titles, as it is im- 

















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 205 

possible to obtain them all, or to learn all 
of the titles of the many Gospels and Epis- 
tles that were in evidence during the days 
of the Early Christian Church. 

As evidence of this Fabricius mentions 
about thirty-six titles under Acts, while the 
list given here contains the names of only 
thirteen of the books. 

From this incongruous conglomeration 
of literary forgery, piracy , falsification and 
plagiarism ive have received the Four Gos- 
pels now in the "New Testament/' namely, 
the Gospel of St. Mattheiv, St. Mark, St. 
John and St. Luke, which are forgeries. 

The Four Gospels, which Christian The- 
ology says believe or he damned, come to 
us from this turbulent stream of books 
which contained such manuscripts as ^ ' The 
Gospel of Eve,'' ''The Gospel of Judas," 
' ' The Epistle claimed to have been written 
by Jesus, The Master," etc. 

As has been shown, these books were 
written by whimsical, pernicious authors 
who would abase themselves to the most 
deplorable acts to accomplish their pur- 
pose in upholding or tearing down some 
particular Gospel. 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

As an illustration of this, the Gospel of 
St. John was composed, to oppose and re- 
fute the writings of Cerinthus; while we 
are supposed to believe it the work of an 
inspired and holy man ; the intent of which 
was to save us from the anger of God. 

If God did observe these things he must 
have closed his eyes; held spellbound in 
amazement and despair. 

Paul also wrote to oppose the Nico- 
laitans. 

Then he took it upon himself to serve 
warning on the Thessalonians, that they 
should be watchful and most careful, oth- 
erwise they might be deceived or misled 
by false writings purporting to come from 
his mighty and inspired pen. Paul him- 
self here confesses that forgery is a com- 
mon practice. To protect them against 
this imposition he warned them that in 
the future all his writing would carry his 
personal signature. 

Most prominent, among the large num- 
ber of denominations and active sects flour- 
ishing in this age, were the three sects or 
adherents of St. Peter, St. Paul and St. 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 207 

John, sometimes referred to as the Johan- 
nines, the Paulines, and the Peterines. 

These Evangelists, of course, have their 
followers to this very day among intelli- 
gent people, who, if they knew the truth 
about these matters as recorded by the 
unerring records of history would not sing 
** Glory Bq to God on High'' or bow their 
heads in pious dignity while the minister 
in a sepulchral voice says ^^Amen.'' 

MUSTY RECORDS OF BYGONE DAYS. 

We will now again silently and thought- 
fully, but more wisely let it be hoped, wend 
our way back into the ages of the past and 
rest our gaze on the musty records of these 
bygone days and see what interesting and 
inspiring events took place in the life of 
these Apostles and their adherents, the 
early Christians. 

As we cast our eyes over the records, 
we observe that there were two Churches ; 
the Western Church and the Eastern 
Church, or Greek Church; the members 
of the Western Church were the support- 
ers of St. Peter, while the Greek Church 
housed the followers of St. John. 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

The adherents of Peter, or the members 
of the Western Church, got on well, and 
the frocks of religion seemed to fit them 
nicely until the Eeformation; then came a 
division which has had its effect on re- 
ligion during all the years of the past until 
the present, as out of it was born the 
Koman Catholic Church and the Orthodox 
Protestant Church. 

The Roman Catholic Church has kept 
intact and maintained the law and author- 
ity of St. Peter, and the Orthodox Prot- 
estant Church has adhered closely to the 
teachings and Gospel of St. Paul. 

The authority and doctrines of sanctifi- 
cation, predestination and foreordination 
and other sprigs of divine wisdom, which 
the Protestant Ministers preach and dwell 
on so profoundly, are taken from the Gos- 
pel of St. Paul, Jesus The Master never 
extolled them. 

The struggle between St. Paul and St. 
Peter became a violent contest and raged 
fiercely shortly after the sad death of the 
Master Jesus, St. John and St. Peter both 
being backed up warmly by their adherents 
which had formed themselves into factions. 










i 















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 209 

Paul was for the Gentiles while Peter 
was for the Jews. 

The former advocated uncircumcision, 
which of course suited the Gentiles, who 
adhered to the teachings of this Apostle 
of uncircumcision. 

Peter was the Apostle of circumcision, 
and of course had a Jewish following. 

PauPs idea was to teach the Gospel to 
the Gentiles, and allow them to omit the 
act of circumcision, and thereby remain 
Gentiles; while Peter was obstinate and 
maintained that they could not become 
Christians until after they had become 
Jews by submitting to circumcision. 

On account of this St. Paul was not ac- 
cepted as an authority, nor recognized as 
an Apostle or teacher of Christianity ; and 
it was over one hundred years before he 
was accepted as a lawful teacher. 

We have seen that the Roman Catholic 
Church, after the Reformation maintained 
the absolute authority of St. Peter's Gos- 
pel as lawful, but should this Apostle come 
today and preach or advocate strict obedi- 
ence to the Jewish ceremonial, or should he 
dare to advocate the strangulation of bulls, 
























210 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

or circumcision in any Eoman Catholic or 
Protestant Chnrch he would be hushed up 
and asked to step down. 

This goes to show just how far the dif- 
ferent creeds have wandered from the orig- 
inal and primitive Gospels and teachings 
of early Christianity. 

To show how radical and violent St. Paul 
was, it is only necessary for the student 
to know that this supposedly great Apostle 
remarked that if any person, it mattered 
not who, dared to preach any doctrine or 
Gospel different than his, that the person 
guilty of such conduct should be accursed ; 
it mattered not even if it were angels sent 
direct from Heaven. 

He wanted it thoroughly understood that 
he was a great Apostle, equal in authority 
and power to the Jerusalem Apostles, who 
had been selected by the Master Jesus. 

Eleven of these Apostles had been se- 
lected by Jesus, and they, in turn, selected 
another to take the place vacated by Judas. 

It was vexing to them to have St. Paul 
select and elect himself to such an office 
while St. Peter was looked upon as having 
charge of all affairs of this kind. 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 211 

They were further vexed and angry be- 
cause St. Paul had the audacity to say that 
he was as great as they, and equal in au- 
thority. 

St. Paul remarked thus: ^^Am I not an 
Apostle f" and they as a unit claimed that 
he was not. 

We find in Eevelation, which was opposed 
to St. Paul, this passage: ^'And thou 
hast tried them which say they are Apos- 
tles, and are not, and hast found them 
liars/' 

St. Paul was bound to stick to the fact 
that he was a Jew and that all of his fol- 
lowers were Jews; notwithstanding the 
fact that they refused to submit to the 
formulary of circumcision. 

However, St. Peter and his adherents 
would not have it this way, for in Revela- 
tion we find them still opposing St. Paul, 
for we read — Revelation, second Chapter, 
9th verse: ''/ knoiv thy works and tribu- 
lation and poverty {but thou art rich), and 
I know the blasphemy of them which say 
they are Jews, and are not, but are of the 
synagogue of Satan/' 

By turning forward one leaf to the third 



























Chapter of the same book (Revelations) 
9th verse, we again read: 

'^Behold I will make them of the syna- 
gogue of Satan ivhich say they are Jews 
and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make 
them to come and worship before thy feet 
and to knoiv that I have loved thee/' 

Paul himself was not an unsophisticated 
individual by any means, even if he was a 
Saint, for he admits that he had attracted 
many adherents by the use of guile and by 
being crafty. 

However, he excused himself by saying 
that it was his belief, that if he had de- 
ceived and misrepresented his followers 
as to his being an Apostle of unusual au- 
thority this, in his opinion, was not so bad, 
since it bore good fruit and had harmed no 
one; as we read in ^'The Epistle of Paul 
the Apostle to the Romans, third Chapter, 
7th verse : 

^^For if the truth of God hath more 
abounded through my life unto His glory, 
why yet am I also judged as a sinner f 

This Apostle and Saint also showed his 
inclination to persecute and vent his wrath 
when he expressed himself very forcibly 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 213 

about those who opposed him and worried 
the Galatians, for we read in his Epistle 
to the Galatians, fifth Chapter, 12th verse, 
where he would have them cut off. 

**I would they were even cut off which 
trouble you." 

We find him again in serious trouble at 
Antioch, where he and St. Peter crossed 
swords in open conflict, as we read in Gala- 
tians, second Chapter, 11th verse. 

**But when Peter was come to Antioch, 
I withstood him to the face, because he 
was to be blamed I ' ' This shows that even 
if St. Paul was an Apostle he could stand 
Peter off in a physical encounter. 

There are other writings that go to show 
that St. Paul also had trouble with the 
Ebonites, which was one of the strongest 
denominations of his time ; as they opposed 
him by saying that he was nothing but 
a faithless Apostate and backslider. 

One writer tells us that *^The Clemen- 
tine Homilies'' made a very bitter attack 
upon the Apostle under the name of Simon 
Magus. 

These people opposed his Gospels and 
forthwith rejected them. Justin Martyr 















m 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



also did the same thing, not considering 
his Epistle worthy of notice. 

Hegesippns accused St. Paul of falsify- 
ing the Scripture and cast out his Gospels. 

Strange to relate, nevertheless true, we 
find that St. Paul's own adherents opposed 
and rejected the Epistle which he wrote to 
the Hebrews, but which modern Christians 
hold so dearly. 

Valentinus' adherents were believers of 
St. PauPs writings, so were the followers 
of Marcion, while the followers of Basilides 
rejected his Gospels and accepted St. 
Peter's. 

The Gospels of St. Peter, St. Paul and 
St. John were rejected by the Corinthians, 
while the Ophites would have nothing to do 
with the writings or books of St. Paul or 
St. John. 

These people who say they obtained 
their Gospels from The Master Jesus, 
brother, named James, were said to be 
snake-worshipers. 

The Donatists would admit no Chris- 
tians to their church until they had been 
cleansed by being re-baptized, as they did 




s^ 












-7-" 



'"^ 





AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 215 













not consider them virtuous; not being of 
their creed. 

Further on we find Jerome hostile to 
Origen and accusing him of the crime of 
heresy. 

Rufinus became a disciple of Origen 's 
doctrines; this greatly displeased Jerome, 
who looked upon Rufinus as his bosom 
friend and follower, and he raised so much 
trouble for him that it resulted in an open 
conflict in the church. 

Those who think that religious waters 
were smooth with peace, love and good will 
floating on their bosom, during the ages 
of primitive Christianity, believe in some- 
thing that never existed, as the records and 
pages of history show. 






















CHAPTER IX. 

The Gospels and Books, Now in the 
Bible, Weee Not Claimed to Be In- 
spiked OK OF Divine Okigin When 
They Weke First Written. 

As has and will be shown in this work, 
as the investigator follows its pages, none 
of the Gospels, manuscripts or tracts, 
which were voted into the Canon of the 
Bible, were considered or claimed to be of 
Divine authority or to be the direct result 
of supernatural influence; neither was 
theopneusty even thought of, but was an 
afterthought. 

The writers of the books of the Old 
Testament were not supposed to have been 
endowed with supernatural powers or 
Divine insight, but those who inherited 
them found the broad stairway of assump- 
tion, which they believed would lead them 
to personal exaltation and aggrandizement, 

216 




















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 217 

very inviting and easy to follow; for it is 
not difficult to say or assume a thing to be 
so, and so, if it will serve to promote the 
party or parties' best interests who bring 
the assumption out and advocate it until 
eventually it is believed to be the truth. 

This is true of the books of the New 
Testament for they, when first written, 
were not considered theopneustic any more 
than were other tracts or books which were 
in circulation at that time, and nobody ever 
thought of looking upon them as being of 
Divine authority, or claimed that they were 
the word of God. 

No person in those days, any more than 
in these days, knew anything about God. 

God never showed himself to the Jeru- 
salem Jew, nor did he stalk the earth dur- 
ing the time of Judaism any more than he 
does today. 

As far as Prophets and Apostles were 
concerned, and the claim that they were 
inspired by God, it is the most fabulous 
myth that was ever invented. 

We have with us today individuals who 
lay all kind of claims to the fact that they 
are inspired by God and that they have 




























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



had numerous things shown to them in a 
vision, but what attention are they able to 
attract these days? They are usually ad- 
judged mentally unsound or dippy. 

There are today hundreds of people who 
say that they have had visions of the Al- 
mighty God and that angels have appeared 
to them and that they have even seen The 
Master Jesus descend from Heaven, but 
where could you find a publisher that 
would print their nonsense or listen to 
them and say that they had been inspired, 
or that their prophecy had Divine origin, 
or that it was of Supernatural powers. 

Any person who has ever given the sub- 
ject any thought knows that almost every 
one has visions, and who does not dream? 
But it certainly takes a person whose bump 
of assumption is as large as an elephant 
to claim that God has interviewed them 
and that as a result they are an Apostle 
with Divine authority to write an Epistle 
which says *^ Believe all that I say and do 
as you are told herewith or be damned. ' ' 

We have more spiritualistic phenomena 
today than they claim to have had among 
the Jews during the formation of the gov- 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 219 

ernment of Palestine, but who thinks of 
saying that a vision or a dream or a case 
of clairaudience, or a case of clairvoyant 
vision is a direct work of the Almighty 
God! 

We have with us today plenty of people 
who say that they hear voices speak to 
them, but who thinks that God has spoken? 

Take the Book of Eevelation, which is 
looked upon by Christian Theology as a 
prophetic tract, and read it, then think to 
yourself what a fabulous composition to be 
handed down to the people as the word 
of God. 

It would be far nearer the truth to say 
that it is the writings of a man who 
was a conceited clairvoyant, **a looker of 
visions." 

Who knows what the seven vials of 
wrath, which St. John claims he saw in 
a vision, means? 

Now be careful, my Orthodox friend, 
and follower of the Bible ; don ^t attempt to 
answer this question too soon, for you had 
better understand that the author is ]iot 
writing this like a blind fool or an ignorant 
individual, for he has been well along the 























path of these very things and will say that 
visions are given, and that dreams are so, 
but they have an individual import; that 
is to say, even if this individual which the 
modern church speaks of as *^St. John" 
the so, and so, did have a vision it was 
given to him personally, just as these 
things happen daily to many people, but 
this is no sign that they are for all the 
people all the time, and the word of God, 
which are to be believed or we will be 
cursed. 

Then again, who knows anything about 
the mentality of this individual? Was he 
sane or not? If we judge him and his 
inclinations according to some other peo- 
ple who lived during the reign of Judaism 
we are inclined to think that were he living 
in this age he would be examined as to 
whether he were insane or obsessed. 

I will give here the ^'Summary of the 
Book of Eevelation, ' ' the * ^ Great Prophetic 
Book'' of the much heralded ^^New Testa- 
ment'' and let the reader go over it at his 
leisure, let him remove from his eyes the 
green glasses of sacredness and come out 
of the hypnotic trance of Dogmatic The- 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 221 

ology and superstition, and think for him- 
self and see whether the things that are 
said about this book by the Christian 
Church of today are truth and sound logic, 
or not, and whether these writings of this 
so-called prophet are worth serious consid- 
eration as far as our earth life and phys- 
ical well being are concerned. 

As an illustration and to get better ac- 
quainted with this great book of this ques- 
tionable prophet, let us turn to Chapter V, 
11th and 12th verses, and see just what this 
writer says in his rambling way and if it 
does not impress you as the fruits of a 
diseased imagination. 

Before I quote this passage I will make 
a few remarks. 

Now this party says that he heard the 
voice of many angels round about the 
throne, and the beasts and the elders ; and 
the number of them was ten thousand 
times ten thousand and thousands of thou- 
sands. 

Now, if we believe him, the angels and 
the beasts and the elders must have all 
been mixed up together and it seems rather 
odd to say the least, to have the angels 

























222 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



speaking in a chorus of voices with the 
beasts and elders. This is the first time 
that the writer ever knew that it was pos- 
sible to count ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand and thousands of thousands of either 
beasts, elders or angels in the short space 
of time that a vision might be given. 

Some of the passages in this book are, 
strange to relate, tales of horses, angels, 
beasts, elders, serpents, leopards, bears, 
dragons, etc. 

One of the amusing things is that it took 
time and considerable age for these books 
to become inspired, but once they come into 
the hands of the early and industrious 
Fathers they were said to be the result of 
supernatural and divine powers acting 
through these Apostles, the revelation of 
God to man, so the church claims. 

After this announcement the early 
Fathers then adopted the New Testament 
as their Bible. 

We find that the first attempt at canon- 
ization of these books was 170 A. D. At 
this time St. Peter wrote his Second Epis- 
tle and announced that The Epistle of St. 
Paul, his former enemy, should be accepted 
























as Sacred Scripture. In other words they 
concluded to make up, so one said ^'make'* 
and the other Saint said ^*up.'' 

This was, of course, a sort of an informal 
remembrance of friendly recognition of the 
Apostle St. Paul and his tracts after the 
fierce and violent contest between the fol- 
lowers and adherents of each. 

However, so history shows, these two 
Apostles and their disciples buried the 
hatchet and patched up past differences. 
For over one hundred and twenty years 
after Jesus' death on the cross, which was 
an instance of what can take place when 
religious factions disagree, the books which 
then composed the New Testament were 
not looked upon as being equal to the books 
of the Old Testament, that is to say, they 
were not accepted as an authority, while 
the books of the Old Testament were. 

One of the puzzling things that is hard 
to understand is that if these books were 
not considered as authoritative as those of 
the Old Testament for over a century by a 
class of people who certainly were as fam- 
iliar with their character as modern theo- 
logians, why are they now considered by 



























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

the modern church, equal, if not of more 
authority than the books of the Old Testa- 
ment! However, this point will be treated 
further on in this work. 

In The Second Epistle of St. Paul the 
Apostle to Timothy, third Chapter, 15th 
verse, we read: '^And that from a child 
thou hast known the holy scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.'' 

In this passage St. Paul refers to the 
Old Testament exclusively. History shows 
that before 170 A. D. that whenever any 
writer or Father used such terms as ^^ Sa- 
cred Scriptures'' they referred to the Old 
Testament. 

In the year 210 A. D. Tertullian made a 
collection of books and formed them into 
a volume and called it the New Testament. 
Tertullian 's collection did not contain all 
the books which were afterward voted into 
the Canon of the New Testament. 

History now leads us on to Origen's 
day before we find the word Canon used 
at all. This term was then given to a col- 
lection of supposedly inspired Gospels or 
Scriptures. 
























AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 225 



It was 363 A. D. that the council of 
Laodicea first introduced the term ^ ^ canon- 
ical.'' St. Chrysostom, during the fifth 
century, gave the name of Bible to Ter- 
tullian's collection of books by taking the 
initiative in using the word Bible. 

The Books of ''The New Testament'' 
were no more fortunate in escaping mutila- 
tion and alteration at the hands of overly 
ambitious writers and copyists who 
thought it nothing unusual to alter their 
passages, than the Old Testament had 
been, for texts and passages were removed 
and new ones were inserted at will. 

Dr. Davidson speaks as follows regard- 
ing this matter : 

"Papias (150 A. D.) knew nothing, so far as 
we can learn, of a Xew Testament Canon. . . . 
He had no conception of canonical authority at- 
taching to any part of the Xew Testament. His 
language implies the opposite, in that he prefers 
unwritten tradition to the Gospel he speaks of. 
He neither felt the want nor Tcnew the existence 
of inspired Gospels." 

"It is clear that the earliest Church Fathers did 
not use the books of the Xew Testament as sacred 
documents, clothed with divine authority, but fol- 
lowed for the most part, at least till the middle of 
the second century, apostolic tradition orally trans- 
mitted." 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

"One thing appears from the early corruption 
of the sacred records spoken of by Irenaeus, Origen 
and others, that they were not regarded with the 
veneration necessarily attaching to infallible docu- 
ments." 

The conception of a Catholic canon was real- 
ized about the same time as that of a Catholic 
Church. One hundred and seventy years from the 
coming of Christ elapsed before the collection [of 
the New Testament books] assumed a form that 
carried with it the idea of holy and inspired.'^ 

During the first half of the second century "the 
New Testament writings did not stand on the 
same level with the Old, and were not jet esteemed 
sacred and inspired like the Jewish Scriptures.'^ 

"Justin Martyr's canon (150 A. D.), so far as 
divine authority and inspiration are concerned, 
was the Old Testament. ... In his time none of 
the Gospels had been canonized, not even the 
synoptics, if, indeed, he knew them all. Oral tra- 
dition was the chief fountain of Christian knowl- 
edge, as it had been for a century. In his opinion 
this tradition was embodied in writing, but the 
documents in which he looked for all that related 
to Christ were not the Gospels alone. He used 
others freely, not loohlng upon any as inspired/' 

"It is certain that they [the early Christians] 
believed the Old Testament books to be a divine 
and infallible guide. But the New Testament 
was not so considered till towards the close of the 
second century, when the conception of a Catholic 
Church was realized. The latter collection was 
not called Scripture, or put on a par with the Old 
Testament as sacred and inspired, till the time of 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 227 

Theophilus of Antioch (about 180 A. D.)." To- 
day the conditions arc exactly opposite. Very few 
believe the hools of the Old Testament to he of 
Divine origin, hut many think the New Testament 
inspired. 

"Two things stand out most clearly — the com- 
paratively late idea of a canonical New Testament 
literature, and the absence of critical principles in 
determining it. The former was not entertained 
till the latter part of the second century. The 
conception of canonicity and inspiration attaching 
to New Testament books did not exist till the time 
of Irenceus/' 

"Not until the latter half of the second cen- 
tury (about 180 A. D.) did the present Gospels 
assume a canonical position, superseding other 
works of a similar character and receiving a divine 
authority." 

"Along with this process [the union of the 
Paulines, Petrines, and the other factions, about 
the middle of the second century], and as an im- 
portant element in it, the writings of apostles and 
apostolic men tuere uncritically taken from tradi- 
tion and elevated to the rank of divine documents. 
It was not the rise of new dissensions Vithin the 
Church' which led to the formation of a Christian 
canon; rather did the idea of ^A Catholic Church' 
require a standard of appeal in apostolic writings, 
which were now invested with an authority that 
did not belong to them from the first." 

Tischendorf, one of the greatest Ortho- 
dox scholars that ever lived, in dwelling 
learnedly upon the time of the Canoniza- 


























228 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



tion of the New Testament tells us that: 
*^It was at this time that the church began 
to venerate and regard as sacred the writ- 
ings which the Apostles had left behind 
them/' The reader will notice that this 
Orthodox scholar says that the church ^'be- 
gan to venerate and regard as sacred;'' 
which makes it very plain that previous to 
this period they were not so regarded. 

In Westcott's Canon we find that the 
idea of these books being inspired and of 
divine authority was, as he rightly terms 
it, ^ ^ the growth of time. ' ' As he says : ^ ^ It 
cannot, however, be denied that the idea 
of the inspiration of the New Testament, 
in the sense in which it is maintained now, 
was the growth of time." 

By far the most unique, and extraor- 
dinary conclusion ever presented to the 
world is that of intelligent men who will 
argue and continue to advocate the idea 
and belief of inspiration while at the same 
time admitting it to be ^ ^ a growth of time. ' ' 
One would think that it would be impossi- 
ble for any person who boasted of any 
learning whatsoever, not to perceive the 
folly and absurdity of assuming that divin- 










rmn 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 229 

ity or inspiration could be a fact under 
these circumstances. 

In the face of the above, however, Chris- 
tian students and Theologians insist upon 
presenting it. It would be just as congru- 
ous to say ^^the belief and idea that a 
negro is colored is a growth. '' It cer- 
tainly would be inconsistent to state that 
the idea and knowledge that a negro is 
black, '4s a growth, '' for his dark color 
came with him when he was born into the 
world; and not as the result of a growth; 
or an afterthought. 

The writer doubts very much whether 
theologians would be in so much of a hurry 
to present such inconsistent conclusions 
if they were real scholars of religious his- 
tory. 

During these interesting and strenuous 
times of primitive religion, when zealous 
denominations and divers sects were striv- 
ing and disputing, it soon became apparent 
that some oracular body, or set of officials, 
was needed that could be utilized as a 
court which could be appealed to in stormy 
times when disputes were abroad. 

The Roman Catholic Church was estab- 
























lisliiBg itself at this period, and soon re- 
quired this authority ; and its magistrates, 
who were none other than the Christian 
Fathers, forthwith proclaimed these books 
and Gospels the lawful word of God; de- 
claring them inspired and of divine au- 
thority. This proclamation was made by 
these officials for the sole purpose of giv- 
ing them absolute authority to promulgate 
new dogmas, precepts and doctrines. 

These Christian Fathers, who had now 
become an authoritative court, did not by 
any means confine themselves to the books 
that now compose the New Testament, as 
they believed their recently acquired au- 
thority gave them license to choose those 
manuscripts and books which best suitec^ 
their purposes and harmonized with their 
previously conceived ideas.* 



*The investigator will do well if he will now re-read 
chapters two and three of this work, for he will then 
see why these Christian Fathers desired absolutely au- 
thority, to exclude or destroy every manuscript or Gospel 
that did not harmonize with their ideas of Dogmatism. 
In other words, they spent days end weeks in forgery, 
mutilating, interpolating and destroying all manuscripts 
that taught that God was All in All. That God was 
"Immanent" and within the soul of all men. 

Instead of this they wanted the masses, as does the 
church this very day, to believe in an unknown God and 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 231 

The limitations and restrictions as to 
just what books should be voted unto the 
Bible come later on. It was thus that we 
have received the Volume called the Holy 
Bible ; which had nothing to do in the mat- 
ter of forming the beliefs and doctrines; 
as the beliefs and doctrines founded the 
Bible. 

The Fathers and those who formed the 
Canon of the New Testament included such 
books as advocated their ideas and dogmas. 
The idea and claim that the Old Testament 
was inspired and of divine authority was 
transferred to the New Testament because 
of its conjunction, contiguity, and analogy 
of use. 



be led by the strings of superstition and ignorance, dis- 
ciples of the black, dismal and loathsome doctrines of 
Hell ; and of the perfidious, treacherous belief in eternal 
damnation, and the infernal powers of Purgatory. 


























CHAPTER X. 

The Eaely Chkistian Fathers Who 
Founded the Bible Were Incompe- 
tent, Ignorant and Superstitious. 

It would indeed be a very peculiar situa- 
tion today to ask people to believe in books 
or writings when they were anonymous; 
no one knew who wrote them, or no one 
knew when they were written. However, 
this is just what the Church expects and 
demands. It even goes so far as to say, 
believe in books that were for 1,500 years 
rejected by the Eastern branch of the 
Christian Church and were only voted into 
the Bible by that branch at a council held 
in Jerusalem in 1672, or be damned. 

The first centuries of Christianity were 
filled with contradictions, shadows, super- 
stitions and legends. The so-called Chris- 
tian Fathers originated the theory and doc- 
trine that the books of the New Testament 
were inspired. The church of to-day would 

232 







' 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 233 

have it believed that these originators 
of the theory of inspiration and divine 
revelation were venerable individuals and 
profoundly learned ; worthy t)f the greatest 
respect and highest esteem. So vigorous 
has this idea been held in the past, that one 
of the charges against Servetus, who was 
burned to death by John Calvin, was that 
he had shown disrespect for the Christian 
Fathers. The reader can judge for himself 
whether the Fathers, so-called, were ven- 
erable men and worthy of the highest re- 
spect by reading the next paragraph, 
which shows that their ferocity was 
aroused at any one who discovered any 
new fact in nature. 

It ought never to be forgotten by the world that 
among the treatises thrown into the fire which 
consumed this great man was his work on the cir- 
culation of the blood, of which he was really the 
discoverer. (Eead "Servetus and Calvin/' by R. 
Wills.) 

Notwithstanding the fact that the popu- 
lar idea prevails that these fathers were 
venerable men and profoundly learned, 
they were exactly the opposite, for they 
were superstitious to an extreme, ignorant 





















234 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

and very incompetent. Tertullian (220 
A. D.)> Irenaens (200 A. D.), and Clement 
of Alexandria (210 A. D.), are the names 
of the extremely ignorant, superstitious 
and singularly incompetent individuals 
who started the Canon of the Christians' 
so-called ^^ Holy Bible/' 

The reader will be able to get a good 
idea of the fitness and character of these 
men to lay the foundation of the Canon 
or decide what books should be considered 
Canonical or not, by carefully reading the 
following by Dr. Davidson, who, in speak- 
ing of these men — Irenseus, Clement of 
Alexandria, and Tertullian — says: 

"The three Fathers of whom we are speaking 
had neither the ability nor inclination to examine 
the genesis of documents surrounded with an apos- 
tolic halo. No analysis of their authenticity and 
genuineness was seriously attempted. . . . The 
ends which they had in view, their polemic m^otives, 
their uncritical, inconsistent assertions, their want 
of sure data, detract from their testimony. Their 
decisions were much more the result of pious feel- 
ing, biased by the theological speculations of the 
times, than the conclusions of a sound judgment. 
The very arguments they use to establish certain 
conclusions show weakness of perception." 

"The infancy of the canon was cradled in an un- 























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 235 

critical age. and rocked with traditional ease. 
Conscientious care was not directed from the first 
to the well-authenticated testimony of eye-wit- 
nesses. Of the three Fathers who contributed 
most to its early growth, Irengeus was credulous 
and blundering, Tertullian passionate and one- 
sided, and Clement of Alexandria, imbued with 
the treasures of Greek wisdom, was mainly occu- 
pied with ecclesiastical ethics. . . . [Their] asser- 
tions show both ignorance and exaggeration.'' 
***** 

The following will show the peculiar ig- 
norant and superstitious ideas that these 
early Christian Fathers held. Clement, 100 
A. D., believed that the sphinx really ex- 
isted and that it could rise from the dead 
every few hundred years. This he said 
proved the doctrine of the resurrection; 
and Tertullian agreed with him. Origen 
also agreed with them because he was too 
weak to stand the criticism and confess he 
was wrong; while Celsus, an opponent of 
the Fathers, and, of course, anti-Christian, 
ridiculed the Fathers for their ignorance 
and credulity. 

The author of the Epistle, said to have 
been written by Barnabas, thought that a 
hyena had the power to become female or 
male by altering its sex once every year. 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

This same writer also believed that the 
weasel's womb was in its mouth and that it 
conceived through this opening, and that 
the number of a rabbit's young would be 
equal to the years of its age ; while he gave 
as a reason that we should only eat the 
flesh of animals who had a cloven hoof; 
that holy people live on the earth, but had 
a right to great expectations in the here- 
after. 

Demons, we are told by Justin Martyr, 
were a reality, for they were the children 
of angels who had loved and formed a 
union with the girls and women of the 
earth. He tells us that we have absolute 
proof of immortality in the fact that obses- 
sion and demonism are the cause of insan- 
ity, that is to say, disembodied wicked 
souls tormented those souls still in the 
body. Angels, he tells us, lived on Manna, 
but fails to state what manna was. 

It was Father Athenagora's opinion that 
angels came from the Logos and were sta- 
tioned everywhere in the universe to keep 
it in order. The daughters of men, he in- 
forms us, were made love to by angels, 
who, as a consequence of sin, fell from 






















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 237 

grace and that demons and giants were the 
offspring of this union. 

These demons and giants thus bred 
stalked about the universe performing 
deeds of devilishness. Another suppos- 
edly learned individual who posed as hav- 
ing great learning was Theophilus, 180 
A. D. He claimed that the fact that women 
suffer pain at childbirth and that snakes 
move about by crawling is sure proof that 
the tale of the fall in the garden of Eden, 
as related in Genesis, is a fact. 

Father Tertullian relates that certain 
animals alter their sex and that still others 
remained young by devouring serpents; 
that when God was angry or displeased a 
comet or an eclipse would appear as a sure 
sign of it. That earthquakes and volcanoes 
were punishments sent into mountains as a 
sign unto the sinful, their openings leading 
to Hell. Demons, so he claimed, had divers 
powers, to kill men, disease their bodies 
and ruin crops, etc., etc. 

One time there was not enough room in 
a graveyard, so one corpse was accommo- 
dating and moved over to give space so the 
other one could be laid next to it. This the 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

Christian Father Tertullian related as a 
fact, and he also said, If an evil spirit, 
which has obsessed a Christian, did not 
declare himself a demon when exorcised 
by a godly man, then the Christian should 
be pnt to death. 

Disasters, plagues and storms, we are 
told by Clement, 220 A. D., were brought 
about by demons; Jew and Gentile, he 
claimed, would have the Scriptures 
preached to them after they went to Hell. 
There is no question but what Clement of 
Alexandria was an individual with a most 
wanton and lecherous imagination, as his 
writings on the indecorousness of the 
pagan women while in their baths show 
the dislike and antipathy the lower classes 
had for the rich. If a prelate of the church 
was allowed to express himself in this man- 
ner, the Alexandrian Christians must have 
been of the canaille ; for expressions of this 
kind would not be tolerated to-day even 
in the slums. 

This bishop wrote a manuscript de- 
nouncing what he assumed was the deprav- 
ity and criminality of paganism, which was 
so improper and unsuitable that the pub- 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 239 

Ushers did not presume to translate or 
publish it. Strange to relate, he quotes 
the Gospels very frequently in these writ- 
ings. 

According to Origen, 254 A. D., the stars, 
sun and moon were human beings; but 
were given to sin. 

He was not so sure as to whether their 
bodies were born with or without a soul, 
and whether their soul would flee and 
their bodies remain. He quotes the twenty- 
fifth chapter of Job to prove that they were 
endowed with a human will. 

With him as with others of his times, 
plagues, storms, the blighting of crops, and 
trees, and the untimely death of men and 
beasts were the direct result of the evil 
spirits and demons. 

Lactantius also believed all these things 
as well as that disease was the work of the 
spirits, but that the cross was a talisman 
and a charm against them. This was 325 
A. D. 

The following is this presumptuous in- 
dividual's idea of the world being round, 
which was taken from ^'Tlie Epitome of 
the Divine Institutes.'^ It is quite lengthy; 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

however, the reader will be well paid for 
reading it, as it serves to show the logic 
and learning of some of these men who 
were, if we accept Christian Dogmas, in- 
spired and Divine. 

''About the antipodes also one can neither hear 
nor speak without laughter. It is asserted as 
something serious that we should believe that there 
are men who have their feet opposite to ours. The 
ravings of Anaxagoras are more tolerable, who said 
that snow was black." 

"How is it with those who imagine that there 
are antipodes opposite to our footsteps? Do they 
say anything to the purpose? Or is there any one 
so senseless as to believe that there are men whose 
footsteps are higher than their heads ? or that the 
things which with us are in a recumbent position, 
with them hang in an inverted direction? That 
crops and trees grow downwards? that the rains, 
and snow and hail fall upwards to the earth? 
And does any one wonder that [the] hanging gar- 
dens [of Semiramis at Babylon] are mentioned 
among the seven wonders of the world, when 
philosophers make hanging fields, and seas, and 
cities, and mountains? ... 

"What steps of argument led them to the idea 
of the antipodes? They saw the courses of the 
stars traveling towards the west; they saw that 
the sun and the moon always set towards the same 
quarters, and rise from the same. But since they 
did not perceive what contrivance regulated their 
courses, nor how they rpfurned from the west to 

























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 241 

the east, . . . they thought that the world is 
round like a ball, and they fancied . . . that the 
stars and sun, when they have set, by the very 
rapidity of the motion of the world are borne back 
to the east. ... It followed, therefore, from this 
rotundity of the heavens, that the earth was en- 
closed in the midst of its curved surface. But if 
this were so, the earth also itself must be a globe. 
„ . . But if the earth also were round, it must 
necessarily happen that it should present the same 
appearance to all parts of the heaven. . . . And 
if this were so, then the last consequence also fol- 
lowed, that there would be no part of the earth 
uninhabited by men and the other animals. Thus 
the rotundity of the earth led ... to the inven- 
tion of those suspended antipodes. 

"But if you inquire from those who defend these 
marvelous fictions, why all things do not fall into 
that lower part of the heaven, they reply that such 
is the nature of things, that heavy bodies are borne 
to the middle, . . . but that the bodies which are 
light, as mist, smoke and fire, are borne away from 
the middle. I am at a loss what to say respecting 
those who, when they have once erred, consistently 
persevere in this folly, and defend one foolish 
thing by another. But I sometimes imagine that 
they either discuss philosophy for the sake of a 
jest, or purposely and knowingly undertake to de- 
fend falsehoods, as if to exercise or display their 
talents on false subjects. But I should be able 
to prove by many arguments that it is impossible 
for the heaven to be lower than the earth, were it 
not that this book must now be concluded, and 
that some things still remain which are more 
necessary for the present work." 






















St. Augustine says that the story of the 
world being round is a fable, and that there 
are no antipodes because historical knowl- 
edge does not say so. 

He says that Scripture proves the truth 
of its historical statements by the accom- 
plishment of its prophecies, and that they 
give no false information as can be seen 
from the following: 

"But as to the fable that there are antipodes, 
that is to say, men on the opposite side of the 
earth, where the sun rises when it sets on us, men 
who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on 
no ground credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed 
that this has been learned by historical knowledge, 
but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that 
the earth is suspended within the concavity of the 
sky, and that it has as much room on the one side 
of it as on the other. Hence they say that the 
part which is beneath must also be inhabited. But 
they do not remark that although it be supposed 
or scientifically demonstrated that the world is 
of a round and spherical form, yet it does not 
follow that the other side of the earth is bare of 
water; nor even, though it be bare, does it imme- 
diately follow that it is peopled. For Scripture, 
which proves the truth of its historical statements 
by the accomplishment of its prophecies, gives no 
false information ; and it is too absurd to say, that 
some men might have taken ship and traversed 
the whole wide ocean, and crossed from this side 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 

of the world to the other, and that thus even the 
inhabitants of that distant region are descended 
from that one first man/' — (Ibid.) 

We now have arrived at the time of an- 
other interesting character who had a part 
in the founding of our religion. 

We will now look at Cosmas Indicopleus- 
tus, who started in life as a business man 
and merchant (535 A. D.), and later be- 
came a Monk. 

The Pagans had begun to accept the idea 
that the world was round, but previous to 
this many had claimed that it was carried 
on the back of some animal, like the ele- 
phant or turtle. 

The Greeks were inclined to the idea that 
the world was round and those who joined 
Christianity still held the idea, but the 
Church would not concede it, for no other 
reason than that it came from the Greeks. 

Cosmas Indicopleustus had traveled 
quite extensively and he felt that he was 
competent to treat the subject, and the 
church made use of his reputation to drive 
out the sincere belief that was coming to 
the front, that the world was round, just 

























344 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



as we find the church doing today; for it 
does not hesitate to use the name of some 
individual, who is said to be very learned 
in order to forestall honest investigation. 

The church would want to know whether 
anyone would dare put his belief of knowl- 
edge against such a great traveler and 
scholar as Cosmas and say that the world 
was round when Cosmas had traveled all 
over it. 

This should be a lesson to you who read 
here, that it is very unwise to allow your- 
self to be hypnotized, or cowed by the 
sound of some great Christian's name. 

Great reputations and famous names are 
not always found identified with advanced 
scholarship ; and the only possible manner 
in which you will ever be able to know the 
truth is to go in for the truth, regardless 
of what this or that one may say, as you 
have as much right to investigate for your- 
self as others have to lay the law and Gos- 
pel down to you. 

Theology is a subject that the layman 
can investigate as well as the religious stu- 
dent, and on this subject, as on all subjects 
one man's idea and theory is just as good 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 245 

as another's, if it be an honest, intelligent 
opinion. 

If you believe that yon are right on some 
phase of Theology, hold your ground, al- 
though the Church does not say you are 
right and everyone calls you a disbeliever ; 
for it is better to be a disbeliever of Dog- 
matic Theology and musty superstitions 
than to yield to the pernicious and despic- 
able custom of believing all that you are 
told just because some such a name as 
Martin Luther, St. John, or St. Matthew 
are used in the argument. 

The reason that the masses are so dis- 
tressingly slow in overcoming the doctrines 
of antiquity and becoming estranged from 
the web of dismal superstitions and Dog- 
matic Theology, which the modern Church, 
both Eoman and Protestant, has woven 
around those who believe in their creeds 
and doctrines, is because the masses have 
let the Church, and the Ministers, and the 
Priests, do their thinking on these subjects, 
instead of doing it themselves. 

Many have reverential fear and great 
veneration for such so-called great names 
as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, 























Abraliam, Tertullian, Jerome and others of 
the early Christians who are thought to 
have had Divine authority; but who were 
grossly incompetent to write on or discuss 
the subjects which were handled by them, 
ent of Alexandria, Abraham, Tertullian, 
Jerome and others of the early Christians 
who are thought to have had Divine au- 
thority ; but who were grossly incompetent 
to write on or discuss the subjects which 
were handled by them. 

To show the great desire that those so- 
called original Christians and Bishops had 
to keep the people in line, and it is only 
necessary to state that Cosmas, when he 
realized that there was a spirit of skep- 
ticism and disbelief about the earth being 
flat and carried around on the back of a 
trutle, took it upon himself to write a book 
to forestall this wave of disbelief. 

To this work he gave the title of '^Chris- 
tian Topography." He could, of course, 
just as consistently have called it '^ Divine 
Geography,'' for he stated that its purpose 
was to oppose the foolish Pagan belief that 
the world is round. 

Of course if a man were to write such a 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 247 

book today he would find very little atten- 
tion paid to it; however, we are supposed 
to pay the utmost respect and reverence 
to the belief of these men who flourished 
during these times. As to whether they 
were competent to write for all ages, I will 
leave to the reader to judge. 

This man said that his work was a 
*^ Christian description of the universe, es- 
tablished by demonstrations from Divine 
Scriptures, concerning which it is not law- 
ful for a Christian to doubt.'' 

In this work he claimed that the world 
was as long again as it was across. 



*(This SUPERSCIPTION HAS BEEN TAKEN 
FROM THE APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT, 
LONDON EDITION 1820; page 111.) THE FIRST 
EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
Clement was a disciple of Peter, and afterwards 
Bishop of Rome. Clemens Alexandrinus calls him an 
apostle. Jerome says he was an apostolical man, and 
Rufinus that he was almost an apostle. Eusebius calls 
this the wonderful Epistle of St. Clement, and says that 
it was publicly read in the assemblies of the primitive 
church. It is included in one of the ancient collections 
of the Canon Scripture. Its genuineness has been much 
questioned, particularly by Photius, patriarch of Con- 
stantinople in the ninth century, who objects that 
Clement speaks of worlds beyond the ocean; that he 
has not written worthily of the divinity of Christ ; and 
that to prove the possibility of a future resurrection, 
he introduces the fabulous story of the Phcenix's revival 
from its own ashes. To the latter objection, Archbishop 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 








Heaven touched the earth on all sides, 
so he said, with the ocean* flowing all 
around it. Over the waves of this ocean, 
he claimed Paradise was located. 

The sun, he said, set behind a mountain 
to the north. 

The earth, according to him, sloped to- 
ward the south, and for this reason such 
rivers as the Tigris and the Euphrates 
flowed rapidly southward, while those 
rivers such as the Nile, which flowed north- 
ward, ran slowly. This, of course, sounds 
well enough but it is hardly logical. 

It was not safe in those days to hold 
opinions or promulgate ideas or doctrines 
that did not agree with the Bishops or 









Wake replies that the generality of the ancient Fathers 
have made use of the same instance in proof of the 
same point; and asks, if St. Clement really believed 
that there was such a bird, and that it did revive out of 
the cinders of the body after burning, where was the 
great harm either in giving credit to such a w^onder, or, 
believing it, to make such a use as he here does of it? 
The present is the Archbishop 's translation from the 
ancient Greek copy of the Epistle, which is at the end 
of the celebrated Alexandrine MS. of the Septuagint and 
New Testament, presented by Cyril, patriarch of Alexan- 
dria, to King Charles the First, now in the British 
Museum. The Archbishop, in prefacing his translation, 
esteems it a great blessing that this ''Epistle" was at 
last so happily found out for the increased confirmation 
both of our faith and our charity. 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 249 

those who set themselves up as having 
profound knowledge, for if you did you 
were regarded as a blasphemer or an in- 
fidel. 

Theologians, such as Diodorus, Patri- 
cius, Tarsus and others, were disciples of 
the doctrine that the earth was flat. 

In other words, Christianity hazarded 
all it could boast of on the idea and belief 
that the world was flat, and later when 
men of real learning established the fact 
of its rotundity, the Christian religion and 
theologians were dealt such a severe blow 
that they never have, even to this day, 
recovered from it. 

As a result of this doctrine of primitive 
religion. Theology always has been and 
always will remain a barbarous transla- 
tion of our universe. 

In the year of 600 A. D., '' Gregory the 
Great ^' held to the foolish belief that the 
volcanoes opened into hell, for he relates 
a tale of how Pope John and Theodoric 
were cast into the infernal regions through 
one of these openings. 

Another story of those times, when men 
were said to receive knowledge from a di- 
























250 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



vine source, is that some nuns, two in 
number, were anathematized from the 
church for having loose tongues and were 
forthwith placed in a grave under the 
church. 

When the priest would say mass he 
would demand that all those who had been 
proscribed to leave the church should do 
so. 

These nuns upon which the church has 
placed a ban would leave their resting- 
places and were not allowed to return to 
their graves until after the father had fin- 
ished saying his mass. 

We are told that this peculiar phenomena 
of resurrections were witnessed by many, 
and that they were kept up at every mass 
until such time as the nuns knew enough to 
keep silent tongue, when the denunciation 
was withdrawn and they rested quietly in 
their graves beneath the church floor ever 
afterward. 

Another curious phenomenon took place 
when a dead child was resurrected by plac- 
ing the sock of a Saint on its breast. The 
holy man's stocking, so we read, was a very 
powerful amulet or relic. If the modern 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 251 

Christian Scientist only could possess this 
stocking and perform such miracles to-day, 
what a real good thing it would be. 

Lamps with paper wicks were said to 
burn brightly when filled with water in- 
stead of oil. This kind of phenomena, of 
course, would be quite displeasing and no 
doubt would be denounced as illegitimate 
by the magnates of the Standard Oil Com- 
pany did it happen today. 

One of these Bishops, which had the 
power to quench flames in those days, 
would come in handy if we had him to put 
out some of the forest fires which raged 
in the northwestern forests this last year; 
for it is said that Bishop Marcellinus 
hurled his body against the raging flames 
of a fire that was destroying a city and they 
were instantly extinguished. Another one 
of God's miracles. Why not have them to- 
day? 

Prayer, we are told, moved a huge rock 
that was so heavy that five hundred pairs 
of oxen could not budge it. 

That an oil trust could never have flour- 
ished in those days as today is made ap- 
parent when we learn that broken lamps 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

were instantly made whole and refilled, al- 
though the oil had been spilled. 

Gregory's Dialogues contain many such 
narrations of phenomena and supernat- 
ural works, which were performed at the 
will of the Bishops and prelates. 

H. J. Coleridge, who wrote this great 
man's biography, states that he certainly 
was a ^' great saint," whose powers could 
not be reached by any of his constituents. 

Some people believe that in India, the 
land and home of Occultism and Magic, 
every blade of grass is impregnated and 
charged with Occult and Magical powers; 
while in those times everything, such as 
houses, trees, rivers, etc., were said to be 
inhabitated with spirits and angels, while 
all things must be done by invoking super- 
natural powers to perform a miracle. 

Supernatural powers, and even God 
himself, was called upon to attend to 
worthless and ridiculous things. 

The blades of grass in India are not 
charged with Oriental Occultism; neither 
are they overheated with the vibrations of 
Magic; neither were supernatural powers 
bestowjed upon these ignorant incompetent 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 253 

Fathers, whom we have seen by these 
pages were overly ambitious and filled with 
imprudent nonsense and superstitious. 

No circumstance was too ridiculous, no 
doctrine too improbable for these early 
Christian Fathers to spread the canopy of 
their credulity over. 

It really seems, if we are to believe the 
records of history, they yielded their cre- 
dence only to those things which were su- 
pernatural and miraculous. 

The false and erring beliefs of these men 
would cover many pages. Their erroneous 
ideas and arabesque beliefs, as depicted 
here, simply show the intelligence of these 
early ages from which the Volume, which 
has been handed to us with the formal, 
mercenary hand of Theology, has been 
transmitted down through the centuries to 
us. 

Some say that they were as intellectual 
as the other men of their day, but this as- 
sertion is a foolish one, for they were big- 
oted, obstinate and dogmatic, as well as 
being infected with fanaticism, and fierce- 
ly opposed to those men who saw fit to say 
that the world is round. 


















Platb IV.— the "MOABITE STONE." 
(Paris, Museum of the Louvre.) 
Monument dedicated to the god Kemosh by Mesha, king of Moab, about B. c. 850, to record Viis 
victory over the Israelites in the days of Ahab, and the resforation of cities and* other works which 
he undertook by command of his god. The stone, which measures 3 ft. join, x 2 ft. x 14,'^ in., and 
contains 34 lines of inscription in the Phoenician character, was found at Dibhanin the land of Moab 
In i20S. It was uni'onunately broken in pieces, but about two-thirds of the fragments were recover- 
ed, and it is possible to give a nearly complete tezt of the inscription from the paper impression 
which was taken oefore the stone was broken. 




Platb v.— THE "SILOAM INSCRIPTION," in the Phoenician character, cut on the -wall of the 
conduit of the Pool of Silonm (about B. C 700). 
The text states that the excavators began to work at the ends and met in the middle of the tun> 
neL When the two bodies of miners were still separated by a wall of rock three cubitsthick, they 
heard each others' voices: then "pickaxe hewed against pickaxe, and the nraters 6owed from the 
epring to thej|>ool, a distance of z,3oo cubits." 



Plate IV. tells of King Mesba's fight witb the Israelites, which is supposed to have beea 
according to God's dictates. 

7£A 













AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 255 

Lactantius, Augustine and others did 
not believe that the world was flat and put 
forward many reasons to believe that it 
is round, but the Bishops could not see the 
validity of their arguments, while others 
did. 

If they were as proficient as Christian 
Theology would have you believe, why 
were they so persistent in error? Why 
were they not able to see evidence and 
truth as well as others? 

Why are not the memories of those who 
did at that time advocate truth and com- 
mon sense honored and eulogized! 

Why have they been forgotten and their 
names very seldom mentioned, while the 
names of those ignorant, bigoted Fathers 
have been made famous? 

Theologians and Christian Theology 
have eulogized the incompetent, instead of 
those who were for truth first and last at 
any cost. 

Christian Theology, of course, would 
have it seem that these Fathers were as 
intellectual as those of their times, and 
there are some that will admit it, but who 
will say that they were proficient enough 
























256 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

to found a book of religion, or write a Bible 
for today I 

There have been futile efforts made to 
vindicate the Fathers by saying that they 
were possessed with remarkable, inner or 
spiritual sight, and that even if they were 
ignorant regarding temporal things they 
were nevertheless gifted in this respect. 

This, of course, is a very slim defence, 
for nobody nowadays would think of say- 
ing that one who could so control himself 
as to bring about the state of * introspec- 
tion'' or an ^ interior focalization of the 
mind," would be thought of as possessing 
divine powers. 

If these men possessed clairvoyancy, 
second sight or clairaudient ability, they 
certainly should never have made the er- 
rors that they did. 

These powers are very common in Orien- 
tal countries and many of the Hindoos can 
induce ^^ spirit sight" at will and self in- 
duce the trance state so they can behold 
visions, but nobody thinks of taking their 
visions nor their dreams nor their super- 
stitions, nor their ignorance and manu- 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 257 

facturing a Bible out of it for which is 
claimed divinity, inspiration and super- 
naturalism, and say you must believe these 
things the words of the Almighty God and 
carry out their mandates or be damned. 

If the Fathers were ignorant and incom- 
petent in temporal and other matters, they 
were no better in their writings and liter- 
ature, for they were very, very poor schol- 
ars indeed. 

Origen and Jerome were the only Fath- 
ers who were educated enough to read 
Hebrew. Justin Martyr gives us a quota- 
tion from the book of The Prophet Jere- 
miah, and by mistake tells us it is Isaiah. 

Clement of Alexandria gives passages 
and quotes what he claims are Scriptural 
lines, and they are not in the Old Testa- 
ment or the New Testament at all. He 
quotes passages claiming they are from St. 
Paul and they are not. In many of his quo- 
tations he adds words that are not in the 
passages he quotes. 

Perhaps it may not be fair to assert that 
he intentionally meant to do this, but it is 
a misrepresentation just the same. 























mr 



258 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Tertullian misquotes many times. He 
quotes from Leviticus words that are not 
to be found in that book. 

He quotes from Isaiah passages that 
will be found in Eevelation and, to say the 
least, he is very inaccurate. Those who 
wrote the Gospels have made similar er- 
rors and blunders. 

The individual, who copied the Gospel 
of St. Matthew, puts into it a passage from 
Zechariah, and says it is a passage from 
Jeremiah. 

Likewise the individual who wrote the 
Gospel of St. Mark, claims for Isaiah a 
passage which is to be found in Malachi. 

An interesting instance of how Scrip- 
tures are made is to be had in the differ- 
ence that exists between the Bible used in 
the Roman Catholic Church and the one 
that is to be found in the Protestant 
Church. 

The Catholic Bible has more books in 
it than the Protestant Bible. The Prot- 
estants claim that the two Maccabees as 
well as ^'The Song of Children'' belong to 
the ^^ Apocryphal Old Testament" and, as 
such, have been excluded from their Bible. 























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 259 

The Roman Priests, however, say that 
these writings are just as much the work 
and word of God as any of the other books 
in the Bible. 

The early Jews did not look upon these 
books as being authoritative or of divine 
origin, while the Jews of Jerusalem and 
Palestine rejected them, refusing to con- 
sider them inspired or sacred. 

However, the Greek Jews thought dif- 
ferently about the matter and treated 
them with more consideration. The Jews 
of Alexandria put them in the appendix to 
the Greek Canons in the backs of their 
Bibles. 

The Christians in Africa were unable to 
understand Hebrew and they were, as a 
consequence of this, compelled to read 
from Greek tracts. 

The Apocryphal works were in this col- 
lection and they, not knowing, accepted 
them as a part of the books. The Bible- 
makers of the African Churches, never 
suspecting, included these Apocryphal 
books, for they did not know enough to re- 
ject them. 

St. Augustine, because he found them 






















360 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



in the collection, retained them. The Ro- 
man Catholic Church kept them for the 
same reason St. Augustine had. 











m 







CHAPTEE XI. 

Books That Were Read At One Time in 

THE Churches, But Which Are Now 

Excluded From the Bible. 

The reader and investigator, who has in- 
telligently and earnestly followed the de- 
tails of primitive religion and theology 
through the fields of strife, and maze of 
ignorance, superstition and dogmatical 
bickering, has seen how at first these 
books, which now form the New Testa- 
ment, were not considered of divine origin 
any more than they were looked upon as 
being the inspired works of God. 

It has been shown that the idea and 
theory of their being inspired was an after- 
thought that had its inception and origin 
exclusively among the ambitious Fathers 
of these early days. 

By proclaiming these books the work of 
God, and by the inauguration of the idea 

261 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

and scheme of inspiration, demonism and 
spiritcraft; and salvation by believing in 
an unknown God, these Fathers became au- 
thoritative and were able to form a ^^ court 
of appeal'' to which they could petition in 
case they wanted any of their new creeds, 
theories or doctrines given the stamp of 
authority. 

As they felt the need of an authority of 
this kind, it caused them to believe that 
they had it. 

This is like the thought that comes into 
the mind of some people who borrow an ar- 
ticle and after a long time has expired, 
and they have failed to return it, they be- 
gin to believe that it belongs to them. 

Their newly acquired authority, how- 
ever, must have caused them to overdo the 
matter, for they gave certain books an 
honorable position in the Bible, which have 
since been thrown out. 

There is possibly no question but that 
their scheme and ideas of ^^ divine inspira- 
tion'' was as untenable and illogical as 
those held today by Christian Theology 
and Theologians. 

There are people today who speak of 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 263 

William Shakespeare, Dante, Homer, Mil- 
ton and other great authors, as having 
been inspired, and that their writings are 
divine, as they are; but no person thinks 
of taking their books and proclaiming that 
they are the works of the Almighty God, 
who has inspired certain individuals, who, 
thereby, have become the medium by which 
his word and law have been given to us, and 
that we must believe them or be damned 
eternally. 

Also let the reader consider that there 
was no such a thing as scholarship. Biblical 
critique or review, during the first three or 
four centuries when the Canon of the New 
Testament was being founded. 

Any kind of a book or manuscript was 
given a place among the inspired literature 
of the day as will be seen from the follow- 
ing, as credence was badly warped and 
twisted, when it came to considering any 
book or set of Epistles as being the works 
of God. 

The books which the prophetess Sibyl 
tried to sell to the King of Rome, and failed 
until after she had destroyed two-thirds 
of them by fire, proves this: 





















Sibyl, the prophetess, was a mysterious 
old witch who was supposed to possess cer- 
tain prophetic powers. 

This woman, who would not be given 
much honor these days if she should try to 
sell a set of books which were supposed 
to contain the law and word of God, came 
to Tarquin, the king of Eome, and tried to 
get him to purchase nine books, which were 
later called the ''Sibylline Books.'' 

The king refused to buy the books and 
the old prophetess departed in anger and 
destroyed three books of the set by burn- 
ing them. 

She then appeared before Tarquin and 
again attempted to sell those that were 
left, demanding the same amount for them 
that she wanted for the full set. The king 
still refused and Sibyl went and burned 
three more of the books, which left only 
three out of the nine. 

Again she went to the King and demand- 
ed that he pay her, for the remaining three 
books, the original price which she had 
asked for the nine books. 

The unusual actions of this old woman 
aroused Tarquin's curiosity and he pur- 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 265 

chased the remaining three books and 
Sibyl, the prophetess, disappeared. 

As we shall see, these books, which this 
old woman had sold to the King, after- 
wards were adopted by the Eomans as 
their Bible. 

They were put away by the King in a 
stone coffer, and, in time. Bishops and 
Priests were jorescribed to translate them 
and the books of Sibyl, the prophetess, 
were transformed into a Bible for the 
Eomans. 

When Jupiter Capitolinus temple was 
destroyed by fire these books were bnrned 
up. 

However, the Eomans were equal to the 
emergency, for it was not long until books 
were taken from the other temples and put 
in their place. 

It would seem, of course, that all of the 
old woman's books were destined to be 
burned, as the last three were destroyed by 
fire, as were the other six which had met 
the same fate at her hands. 

Of course, the very pious may say that 
this was the work of God ; but it no doubt 
was the real live doings of ambitious men, 












w-.»^-*»|- 












^nr"' 




266 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



and God had no more to do with the deal 
than he did with the promulgation of the 
idea that the world was flat or that cer- 
tain books were inspired, when it was 
known that they were not. 

Those who donbt the above need not 
sneer, for if they are interested and as par- 
ticular in determining the absolute truth 
about these things as they are about having 
their piousness jarred, they will do as 
every honest and sincere person will do — 
get the ^^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
Antiquities^' and read it for themselves. 

That this kind of a thing was not uncom- 
mon, history shows, for when the Pen- 
tateuch (the first five books of the Old 
Testament) was destroyed by fire, all the 
copies being burned, they were replaced 
by books which we are told that Ezra re- 
wrote. 

Of course, it would be impossible for 
all the copies of the Bibles that are in cir- 
culation today to be destroyed, but if they 
should be, there is not much doubt that 
before long some ambitious individual 
would write new books, which in time 
would be proclaimed as inspired and the 













AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 267 












works of God. We would then have an- 
other Bible. 

Previous to and after the death of Jesus, 
these books, which Sibyl, the prophetess, 
had enticed and entrapped King Tarquin 
of Eome into buying from her, carried the 
highest authority and were looked upon as 
being the direct word of God. 

The fate and destiny of the old Woman's 
books did not end here, for the Christian 
authors of those days fell into the per- 
nicious habit of copying from them. This, 
of course, was rather natural, as it was a 
custom prevalent at the time. 

Had they stopped here it would not have 
been so bad, but they were too ambitious 
for this and did not rest until they had 
appropriated these books to their own use 
and religion. 

Monheim does not hesitate to say that 
these hooks ivere forgeries of the first and 
second centuries. 

Christian Theology and Theologians fall 
back on Justin Martyr as a battleground 
to defend Dogmatic Theology by telling us 
that they have satisfactory evidence that 
Revelation, which closes the Canon of 


















GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

their Scriptures, is a revelation of God to 
man, because lie (Justin Martyr) lived 
sixty years after its supposed date and 
ascribed it to John, and that Papias ac- 
knowledges its inspiration; and that Ire- 
naeus (disciple of Polycarp), who was 
John's own disciple, testifies to the Apos- 
tle's authorship and that he had himself 
received the explanation of one passage in 
it from those who had conversed with the 
Apostle about it. 

To this evidence, which, mark you, they 
say is perfectly satisfactory, they tell us 
if we care to we may add that of Clement 
of Alexandria, Theophilus, Tertullian, 
Origen, Cyprian, Jerome, Athanasius, etc. 

It is unnecessary to add that my reader 
has been shown that history tells us that 
these men's evidence, opinions or claims 
are anything but authentic and satisfac- 
tory, as they are based upon superstition 
and ignorance. 

Now this very same individual, Justin 
Martyr, who Christian Theology and pre- 
sumptuous theologians tell as is such a 
great and reliable authority that we must 
believe him, quoted from these books, which 





















AISTD CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 269 

Sibyl, the prophetess, enticed the King into 
buying just as freely and with the same 
authority that he did from the books of 
Moses or any of the other prophets, 

Clement of Alexandria, another of the 
great early Christians, upon whose word 
the modern church has reared its fabric 
of religion, looked upon this mysterious 
old witch, who vanished after she had sold 
the books to the King, as a prophet and he 
refers to her as the '^Prophetess of the 
Hebrews." 

Clement of Alexandria in one sentence 
quotes from the books of Moses and the 
books of Sibyl, the prophetess, which shows 
that he viewed the Sibylline Books with as 
much authority as he did any of the Books 
of the other Gospels. 

In short, all the early Christian Fathers, 
such as Jerome, Origen, etc., quote from 
the Sibyline Books. 

Barnabas and Tertullian quote as Scrip- 
ture passages from the books of Enoch. 

Clement of Alexandria quotes from the 
'^ Gospels according to the Egyptians." 
When Tertullian, whom Christian Theol- 




















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

ogy sets up as an authority, attempted to 
prove the genuiness of the books of Enoch, 
the argument he made has provided the 
**wits" with diversion since that day to 
this, for it was very ancumic. 

Clement of Alexandria, the *^ heretic,'' 
Heracleon and Gregory of Nazianzen, all 
were guilty of quoting from *^ Preaching 
Peter.'' 

The early Christians looked upon ^^The 
Shepherd of Hermas" as a work of great 
repute and claimed that it was an inspired 
work. 

Irenseus quotes it for ^'Scripture" and 
Clement of Alexandria says that it was 
divine and a revelation ; and Origen makes 
the same claim by saying that it was in- 
spired and quotes it for *'Holy Scrip- 
tures," the same as he does ^'The Epistle 
of Paul" and ^^ Psalms." Athanasius also 
quotes it. 

Athanasius quotes from the ^^ Wisdom of 
Jesus and the son of Sirach" as ^'Holy 
Scriptures ; " it is also cited by Dionysius, 
Hilary of Poiters, Ephrem and Jerome, 
who quote it for '^Divine Scriptures." 

Origen cites *^The Wisdom of Solo- 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 271 

mon*' for the sayings of Christ and the 
''Word of God/' 

Cyprian says that it was inspired by 
the ''Holy Spirit'' and states that it is 
"Divine Scripture;" Ephrem and St. 
Chrysostom cites it; Eusebius says that it 
is a "Divine Oracle." 

Today we have no such Scriptural pas- 
sage as Daniel xiii; however, we find that 
Eusebius of Csesarea and Ephrem both 
quoted it as "Holy Scripture." Why has 
it been taken out? 

Lucifer cites, first, Maccabees for "Holy 
Scripture." Athanasius cites, first, Es- 
drad, whose author, Clement of Alexan- 
dria, said was a prophet; he says that 
Baruch is the word of the Almighty God; 
and cites it for inspired Scripture. This 
was in 370 A. D. 

Alexandria of Thessalonica referred to 
it as "Divine Scripture." Cyril, who 
stated that ' ' Thou must hate all heretics, ' ' 
said that its author was a prophet. 

Such men as Cyril of Jerusalem, Clem- 
ent of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian, Ephe- 
gram, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Lucifer 
of Cagl, time and time again quoted from 


















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

such books as 1st Maccabees, Esdras, Epis- 
tle of Barnabas, Pastor of Hermas, Tobit, 
Peter the Preacher, Wisdom of Jesus the 
Son of Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon, etc., 
etc., and said that they were divine, ^ ' Holy 
Scripture, '^ ^'Divine Eevelation, ' ' ^^The 
Word of God,'' '^Holy Spirit," and ^^ Di- 
vine Oracle.'' 

Today these books are not among the 
Scriptures, for they have been rejected. 

This clearly proves the assertion made 
in the fore part of this work, that there 
are books that were included in the Canon 
of the Bible at one time, which are not 
there now, and that there are books now 
included that were excluded at one time. 

On the past few pages it has been shown 
in more than one instance that quotations 
are made from books claimed to be divine 
and *^Holy Scriptures," but that they are 
not so considered today. 

Some books, of course, as we all know, 
have been kept in the Bible that is used 
in the Eoman Catholic Church; while 
others have been eliminated from the Prot- 
estant Bible; but the truth of the matter 
is, many books that were at one time con- 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 273 

sidered inspired and divine have been re- 
jected from both. 

These early Christian Fathers were not 
the only ones, however, who did not con- 
fine themselves to the writings and Gos- 
pels that are now in the Bible, for many of 
the New Testament writers were guilty of 
the same habit, and it will be shown here 
that they did not limit themselves to the 
books now in the Canon. 

Paul must have quoted from some one of 
the Apocryphal books, or cited tradition 
when he said: "It is more blessed to give 
than to receive,'' for the Four Gospels do 
not contain it. 

In Corinthians, first book, second Chap- 
ter, ninth verse, we read : ' ' But it is writ- 
ten. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into the heart of man, 
the things which God hath prepared for 
them that love him." 

This is quoted for Scripture, but the 
Old Testament does not contain it. 

Jerome and Origen both agree that it 
was taken from "The Kevelation of 
Elias,'' which is one of the Apocryphal 
books. 





















rrr 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

In first Corinthians, fifteenth Chapter, 
thirty- third verse, we read: ^^Be not de- 
ceived; evil communications corrupt good 
manners.'' 

St. Paul has cited from ^' Thais of 
Menander,'' a wise man who belonged to 
the seven from Greece. *^For in him we 
live, and move, and have onr being; as 
certain also of your own poets have said, 
for we are also His off-spring.'' 

The above. Acts seventeenth Chapter, 
twenty-eighth verse, has puzzled many as 
they could not believe it a Holy quotation. 
The truth of the matter is that it was cop- 
ied verbatim for ''Phenomena of the Greek 
poet Aratus" contain these same words. 

Little this poet thought when he wrote 
these words that they would be handed 
down to us as ''Sacred Gospel" or "Holy 
Scripture. ' ' 

In the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus, first 
Chapter, twelth verse, we read: "One of 
themselves, even a prophet of their own, 
said, The Cretians are always liars, evil 
beasts, slow bellies. ' ' 

Epimenides, a Greek poet, wrote this 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 275 

and the Apostle copied it word for word 
mid claimed its author was a prophet. 

The very language in this passage would 
be repulsive to any person of refinement, 
as it is extremely coarse and vulgar, stat- 
ing that, *'The Cretians are always liars, 
evil beasts, slow bellies.'' Any way that it 
might be considered, it could not be of any 
value as it is suggestive only of the most 
deplorable conditions, and the wonder is 
that people have been so hypnotized by 
Dogmatic Theology that they have failed to 
see that these words never could have come 
from a man who was ^^ divinely inspired" 
or who entertained thoughts that were im- 
pregnated with the sentiments of common 
decency, let alone being the Sacred Word 
of God. 

St. Matthew when he wrote, if he was 
the author, ^'That it might be fulfilled 
which was spoken by the prophet, I will 
open my mouth in parables; I will utter 
things which have been kept secret,'' he 
was quoting Apocryphal passages, and no 
such prophecy is to be found in the Old 
Testament. 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



Just why he should speak in parables, 
and what these secret things were, we 
have never fonnd out and we never will, 
for that matter, for it has been ever thus 
with prophetical teachers and Grospels that 
they all speak in a far off sounding voice, 
mumble about parables, secret things, and 
hidden philosophies, and the mystical 
works of God; who will deliver us from 
evil works. 

These Apocryphal books were held in 
high repute among the Christians in those 
times and were accepted as the word of 
God just as those in the Bible are now; 
even so late as the beginning of the third 
century, they were in use and looked upon 
as being authoritative by the ministers in 
Palestine, the abode of Jesus. 

The fifth century saw the ^^ Epistle of 
Clement^' holding its own among the Gos- 
pels. Both Jerome and Eusebius lived 
when this book was read in the churches. 

Eusebius states that the ^^Shepheid of 
Hermas" was opposed by some, but also 
says that the ^^ General Epistle of James, ^' 
and ^'The General Epistle of Jude," were 
also disputed and that, although they were 























^A/^/^^^^T 



?^ 



considered forgeries, the churches still al- 
lowed them to be read. 

Now it should be noted that these three 
books were at one time all considered 
spurious, but that the ^^ Shepherd of Her- 
mas'^ fell from grace, while Orthodox 
Theologians have adopted the other two 
as the word of God. 

The Gospel of Nicodemus, which now is 
in the Apocryphal New Testament, was 
read in the Cathedral at Canterbury, Eng- 
land, inside of the last two centuries. 

The Gospel of the Hebrews was also 
read in the churches, but it was thought 
better to set it aside, and it was supplanted 
by the Four Gospels. 

Judging these Four Gospels by some of 
the language used in them, it is difficult to 
say just whether the churches have been 
benefited or not. 

What follows has been taken from page 
63 of the '^Apocryphal New Testament/' 
1820, London edition, by William Hone. 

If my reader has any doubt that there 
were any numbers of forgeries and spuri- 
ous Gospels in circulation, all he has to do 
is to make a private investigation of his 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

own and lie will soon learn for himself tiiat 
these statements are not overdrawn. 

Christian Theology makes no charges 
of this nature for it would have ns believe 
that all has been peaceful, all through the 
ages of the past, and during the history of 
religion, but because all is quiet now you 
should not get the idea that it was that 
way always. 

Again, it should be understood that the 
New Testament has been altered and 
changed to suit the beliefs and ideas of 
the time, and it has not been the same at all 
times. 

What has been said here about these 
books that are not now included in the 
New Testament, are the doings of the 
early Fathers, who knew all about these 
books, and many of the Fathers read from 
them in the churches. 

The Testament that is used in the 
churches today was nothing like the one 
used then and was not even thought of, 
but was founded centuries after. 

Colleges or Universities, such as Yale, 
or the University of Pennsylvania, always 
have their own particular text-books. No 














AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 279 



IT 




one college claims that it has all the au- 
thentic books in existence and that all other 
books used by rival institutions are worth- 
less. 

Each school today has its own particular 
text-books and adheres to them. 

So it was with the early Fathers — one 
would accept the Gospel that would be 
rejected by another and reject Epistles 
that some other Father would accept. 

So it will be seen that our Bible as we 
have it today did not really come from 
God, neither are its hooks inspired or the 
works of divinity, for its contents and 
teachings depended exclusively upon the 
idea and opinions of the early Christian 
Fathers, and the question can well be 
asked without giving offence : ^'Were they 
competent to found a religion for all men 
of all future agesf'^ 

These Fathers would reject or mutilate 
by interpolation* any book that did not 

*The interpolation of new doctrines into old books, 
and the putting forth of modern figments under ancient 
names, is occultly alluded to by Jesus under the symbol 
of new wine in old hottleft. Matt. ix. 17; Mark ii. 22; 
Luke V. 37, 38. It is wonderful that no man has as yet 
attempted to explain the numerous mystic sayings of 
"The Master Jesus," many of them deeply tinged with 
















\ 




rr 






agree with their views or preconceived 
doctrines. 

It can be well said that the Bible had no 
pari or lot in the formation of the ^^faith^^ 
and ^^ beliefs'' that it enunciates, for the 
^^ beliefs'' and ^^ faith" founded the Bible 
and modern Christian Theology says, ac- 
cept and believe it or the cnrse of God will 
be upon yon to the end of eternity. 

the symbolism of Hindostan and of Pythagoras, who is 
supposed by some to be the Shanskrit Bud 'ha Gooros, or 
Teacher of Wisdom. 
















CHAPTER XII. 

The Heteroclites. 

Christian Theology and Orthodox Theo- 
logians have one way in which they ever 
have attempted to answer or refute these 
facts, for they are facts as the records of 
history surely show. 

Their one answer is that all the blame 
should be shouldered upon the heretics; 
heterodoxy, so they reply, is the fault of 
it all. Christian Theology will admit noth- 
ing but that it has inherited real religion; 
pure and unaffected, chaste and unadorned 
just as the Early Fathers preached it. 

They claim that the New Testament as 
it stands today was accepted by the Fath- 
ers, and that what change has been made 
is the work of heterodoxy. '^Intra-csLnon- 
ical books'' were rejected and discarded; 
and ''e^r^ftt-canonical books,'' were ac- 
cepted exclusively by the heretical Fath- 

281 




























282 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



ers, they would have it believed. This as- 
sertion is not true, as will be found on in- 
vestigation, for the claim is absurd and 
groundless. 

It has been shown here several times 
that of the books and Gospels, which early 
Orthodoxy claimed were inspired and of 
Divine origin, have since been voted out 
of the Canon, having been rejected as 
spurious, modern Orthodoxy now claiming 
that they are not inspired. 

Further, it will be shown in the next 
chapter that these books, now included in 
the Canon and accepted as Grod's works, 
and, as a consequence, inspired, were dis- 
carded as spurious by the Fathers and 
early orthodoxy. Now, as the reader will 
discover, orthodox theologians speak much 
in condemnation of the ^^ heretics,'' and 
say that all the trouble and disbelief is the 
fault of sectarian views and heresy; 
whether this is so or not, we will deter- 
mine presently. It is my purpose to show 
that those very Fathers upon whom theol- 
ogy bases its truth were the greatest her- 
etics the world has ever known. 

Now, how could the Fathers be accepted 














AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 283 













as an authority and give us a pure relig- 
ion on one hand, as othodoxy states they 
have ; and on the other hand, be the great- 
est heretics of the past ages as history 
shows they were? However, we will pro- 
ceed. Irenaeus, a Christian Father, whom 
orthodoxy continually refers to as a great 
man, absolutely denies that St. Paul ever 
was the author of the ^ ' Epistle of Paul the 
Apostle to the Hebrews ;'' but orthodox 
theologians never think of accusing him 
of heresy. 

The true facts are that he is an author 
of a work on heresies. Hippolytus, author 
of ''Against all Heresies,'^ does not hesi- 
tate to say that St. Paul never wrote the 
Epistle to the Hebrews. 

It was no more difficult, in past times, 
to make a charge of heresy than it is for 
modern Christians to say that those who 
fail to accept their doctrines are disbeliev- 
ers, sinners, devils and infidels. As we have 
seen, Tertullian helped to found the Canon 
of the New Testment; yet he turned to a 
Montanist; that is to say, he joined a sect 
whose mission it was to cleanse Chris- 
tianity. 
























284 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



This made a heretic out of him; but he 
is not so considered by orthodoxy. Ter- 
tnllian himself is also an author of a work 
on heresy, as was Justin Martyr, Epi- 
phanius and Theodoret. It was a habit and 
custom during these times for every 
Father to accuse every other Father of 
being a heretic when he failed to agree or 
believe as he did. 

It is thus that we observe the ^'Artless- 
ness of early unsophisticated Christian- 
ity.'' Its founders, on no other authority 
than the disputed and spurious hooks them- 
selves, convicted each other of a hetero- 
doxy, even before these contested writings 
had become a part of ^^Holy Scripture." 

None of the Latin Fathers, who lived 
before the year of 368 A. D., would say 
that St. Paul wrote The Epistle to the 
Hebrews. St. Cyprian most solemnly de- 
clared that St. Paul was not the author of 
Hebrews; Origen's disciple, named Dio- 
nysius, denied that the Apostle St. John 
wrote Kevelation. Nobody thinks of ac- 
cusing these men of being heretics; but if 
they lived today and would dare make such 
assertion they would be instantly accused 




















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 285 

of heresy and unsound doctrines; and the 
Church would persecute them the same as 
the Christians of old did. 

If these Fathers were right when they 
opposed these books and objected to their 
being included in the Canon of the Bible, 
they deserve great credit for such opposi- 
tion. Such books as Revelation, Jude, He- 
brews, James, Second Peter, Second and 
Third John, were looked upon, by critical 
orthodox writers, as belonging to the 
doubtful ones even as late as the first half 
of the third century. 

Latin churches, even so late as the be- 
ginning of the fifth century, had not ac- 
cepted The Second Epistle of John or the 
Epistle of James. The Greek churches 
(Syrian) did not have the Bible Canon 
completed up to the first half of the fourth 
century ; no charge of heterodoxy has ever 
been made against any of these Chris- 
tians. 

Orthodoxy itself has been in the past 
more schismatical than those whom they 
now charge with being heretics. Or- 
thodoxy would have you believe that its 
hands are clean and that the heretics are 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

guilty of all the falsifications that have 
contaminated the Scriptures. This is not 
true. The orthodox theologians accuse the 
heretics of forgeries and mutilations, 
claiming that they are innocent; and the 
heretics accuse the orthodox writers of 
corruption and forgeries. The charge made 
by the former cannot be consistently main- 
tained. 

Many advocate the alteration of the text 
of the Scriptures and thereby remove in- 
congruities which modern critics have 
used so well to devastate and rend the 
claims of orthodoxy and Christian Theol- 
ogy. In referring to this matter Davidson, 
in the following, gives us his opinion: 

"It is time that the text of these historical books 
should be rectified in those instances where an un- 
questionable necessity exists. If there be not 
manuscript evidence to warrant certain changes, 
we should not be deterred from making them. 
Common sense, the credit of the inspired writers, 
and, above all, their sacred authority, outweigh all 
scruples about correcting by conjecture. Real 
contradictions should never be allowed to tarnish 
a text written under the immediate supervision of 
the Holy Spirit.^' 

Clark, the well known Methodist annota- 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 287 



tor, also advised that the texts in the Bible 
be changed. Orthodox savants, when mak- 
ing a revision of the Bible, have changed 
its text to suit their views ; the heretics did 
the same: and claimed that they were im- 
proving by correction, and not corrupting 
the Bible. 

They certainly were acting in the best 
of faith, but nevertheless Orthodox sav- 
ants impugn and question their motives 
when they have done the same things them- 
selves. What sort of a religion or creed 
is it, that looks upon an act as being wrong 
when committed by some one outside of 
their sect, but will authorize the act when 
committed by one of their own number? 

What right has orthodoxy to regard 
these early Christian acts as opprobrious, 
just because they were charged with 
heterodoxy? To be charged with hetero- 
doxy does not signify that one is debased, 
neither does it mean that you accept error 
for truth. 

It does mean, however, that you are pos- 
sessed of individuality and dare assert it. 
It means more than this : it means that you 
are man enough to use your own judgment 











t^nr 











GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

when it comes to choosing a belief or creed, 
instead of submitting it to some one else. 

Those people who do attend church never 
stop to think that the church has selected 
their belief for them; and that because 
they happened to find it more congenial 
and convenient to join the Eoman Catholic 
church, they have faith and belief in the 
doctrines which it preaches; whereas, if 
their father and mother had been Prot- 
estants, they would have embraced Ortho- 
doxy instead. In other words, the Church 
fixes the beliefs, and the kind of a belief 
you will embrace depends upon what sort 
of a church you wander into. 

The Church of today is fast losing the 
respect of the people (the reason is ob- 
vious), and in order to maintain itself and 
retain its power and influence over the 
people, it has attempted to dictate the be- 
lief by prescribing what its nature should 
be. 

What Orthodoxy and the Church call a 
heretic is a person whose opinion and idea 
of belief differs from theirs. There are 
many instances where the church has been 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 289 



wrong and the heretic right; in some in- 
stances the conditions have been reversed; 
in some cases both have erred. 

The question to decide is, Has a man a 
right to do his own thinking and choosing 
in matters regarding beliefs ? 

^^To BE CENSURED, IS THE PRICE WHICH 
INTELLECT, ALWAYS, HAS BEEN FORCED TO PAY 
TO IGNORANCE, AND PURE STUPIDITY; AND TO 
TOLERATE THE TRIBUTE, WHICH MEDIOCRITY 
EVER DEMANDS FROM GENIUS/' 

The individual, whether he be a church- 
man, theologian, minister or priest, who 
makes use of the word ^^ heretic" to charge 
another with disbelief, simply parades 
his mental debasement and intellectual 
corruption. 

Take two people and let one be orthodox 
and the other heterodox and the former is 
always more intellectual and, as a rule, 
more moral and magnanimous than the 
latter. This was invariably the case with 
those early Christians whom orthodoxy 
charges with being heretics and sectarians, 
and responsible for all the corruptions and 
forgeries of the Gospels. Orthodoxy ac- 
























cnses Carpocrates of being a heretic, yet 
he taught that men could receive salvation 
by acts of love and faith. 

Cerinthus, who also fell under the ban, 
was accused of believing that Jesus, after 
his resurrection, would establish a King- 
dom on earth. This doctrine orthodoxy 
has since embraced. Because Cerinthus 
believed this, St. John, ^^the disciple,^' re- 
fused to remain under the same roof with 
him. 

As stated before, if the members of one 
faction differed with the belief of another, 
then there would be accusation and charges 
of heresy; and this becomes apparent on 
learning that Marcion was called heretical 
because he, being a disciple of St. Paul, 
opposed the doctrines and Gospel of St. 
Peter. 

What is known of Marcion shows that he 
was a good man of excellent traits, yet 
those, whose beliefs he opposed, spared no 
effort to ruin his reputation. What he at- 
tempted was to have the Gospel of St. Paul 
preached in an original manner. For this, 
Polycarp, whose beliefs orthodoxy has 
never questioned, charged him with being 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 291 













the ^* firstborn of Satan. '^ Of course Poly- 
carp knew all particulars regarding the 
genealogy of Satan just the same as he 
knew all about the circumspection of be- 
liefs ; and it is one of the regretable things 
of history that any one dared differ with 
him. 

Marcion informed his opponents that he 
did not desire to introduce anything that 
could be considered a departure from es- 
tablished precedent; only desiring to re- 
store the Gospel to its original simplicity 
so that there would be less corruption and 
more discipline in church affairs. His op- 
ponents were afraid that if they allowed 
him to introduce any innovation, it would 
interfere with the emoluments of those who 
already held offices; consequently, they 
made every effort to blacken his reputa- 
tion and defame his character. 

The heretics were no more to blame for 
the early Christian vagaries and theo- 
logical whimsicalities than were the ortho- 
dox early Christians. They (the heretics) 
in every instance were just as intellectual 
and quite as competent. It is difficult to 
understand just why they should be ad- 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



judged heretical, when they were the real 
innovators of those doctrines and beliefs 
which orthodoxy has since accepted; so 
why should they be called heretics? 

History shows that the heresiarchs, 
which orthodoxy rails at, have in the past 
used many of the Gospels and books which 
are now considered canonical. In many 
instances they quoted from the New Testa- 
ment which they themselves were the first 
to claim was sacred and inspired; and it 
was only through their zealousness that, as 
such, the books of the New Testament were 
put on a par with those of the Old Testa- 
ment. 

It was they who first introduced the 
idea that these books were inspired and 
the word of God. In time the Christian 
Fathers seemed to awaken and realize that 
the idea was a good one and that it could 
be turned to good advantage and utilized 
in the founding of a religion; they subse- 
quently adopted it and it has from that 
day to this formed the most vital spark in 
*^ Orthodox'' Christianity — theology's best 
drawing card. 

Today the ^^ orthodox" Christians claim 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 293 

that the heretics are unorthodox and do 
not believe the New Testament inspired, 
but history shows that it was the heretics 
who first claimed that it ivas inspired. 
Their idea and views of inspiration were 
just as complete as those of modern or- 
thodoxy; and they were first to suggest a 
Canon; and were the first annotators of 
the Gospel. 

When the first list that was considered 
Canonical was adopted the most of those 
present were heretics. The '^Orthordox" 
Christian council, which met at Constanti- 
nople in the year of 692 A. D., sanctioned 
these books by ratification. They were 
subsequently ratified by the council and 
Fathers of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Those whom Orthodoxy claim were her- 
etics recognized the Gospels as an author- 
ity to settle all disputes. The Gospel now 
claimed to have been written by St. John 
had its birth among the heretics, but they 
always maintained that he never wrote it. 
Davidson's ^^Introduction, New Testa- 
ment," M. 104, Chicago Public Library, 
shows that John's name was subsequently 
forged to it by the *' Orthodox" Christians. 



g^?§ 






















In order to disabuse the reader ^s mind 
of the fact that this charge is made at 
random, I have given above the shelf ref- 
erence in the library where the statement 
can be verified. Historians have set down 
many interesting and novel facts on the 
pages of their valuable works and the wise 
student will do well if he investigates for 
himself; and he will find that Orthodox 
Christianity has inherited many of its be- 
liefs and doctrines from those whom theo- 
logians now denounce as heretics. 

Of course, modern '^Orthodox'' Chris- 
tianity and theologians are very ungrate- 
ful when they continue to denounce the 
past actions of these so-called heretics by 
hurling denunciations at them for no other 
reason than because this was the custom 
among the early ecclesiasticals in bygone 
ages. The time has come when modern 
theologians and Christian authorities 
should no longer echo the foolish maledic- 
tions of the incompetent founders of the 
Christian religion, any more than they 
should venerate their ignorant claims ; for 
their conclusions and beliefs are of very 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 295 













little, or no value, to intelligent men of to- 
day. 

It is true, of course, that the writer has 
dwelt considerably upon this phase of 
primitive and modern Orthodoxy, but the 
circumstances and conditions of today jus- 
tify it for the reason that Christians have 
attempted to have it appear that the books 
which now form the New Testament al- 
ways have been accepted by the Orthodox 
Church as genuine, and that all criticisms 
and heterogeneous views and beliefs were 
held by the heretics. 

This claim, as has been shown here, is 
absurd, irrational and untenable. 




























CHAPTER XIII. 

The Foemation of the Bible. 

In this chapter we will consider the cre- 
ation of the Christian Bible or Canon, that 
is to say, take up the process of its evolu- 
tion. It is our object to follow its evolve- 
ment and descent by continuous differentia- 
tion, development, doctrine and develop- 
ment of inspiration; and its ascent from 
primitive Christianity through its ages of 
complexity to the founding of the Chris- 
tian Canon. 

That the founding of the Christian 
Canon was brought about by ex cathedra, 
and the dictatorial tactics and adroitness 
of priests and shrewd theologians, there is 
no doubt. The creation and founding of 
the Canon of the Old Testament by the 
Hebrews was considered in a former chap- 
ter, feeling that it would be less confusing 
to my reader to deal with founding of the 

296 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 297 



Canon of the Old Testament by the Chris- 
tians at the same time that we go over the 
details of the New Testament, thereby pre- 
serving the unity. 

History shows that during the first two 
centuries of its tumultuous existence the 
Orthodox Christian Church could not 
boast of a New Testament, as that term is 
now accepted. There were in circulation 
during this period upwards of fifty Gos- 
pels, as well as a larger number of Eevela- 
tions, Epistles, Acts and other so-called 
sacred books. 

If we believe all these manuscripts in- 
spired, God must have been in personal 
touch clairaudiently with a large percent 
of the population all at one time. Besides 
this, he must have been kept busy as a por- 
trayer of numerous visions and dreams 
which his potentates took upon themselves 
to record and hand down to less fortunate 
posterity. Of course, who knows but what 
this may be good and exactly as it should 
be, for people during this strenuous age 
have very little time to become experts in 
divination, interpret visions and dreams, 
and figure out parables said to have been 





nrr 

















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

given ^^allegorically'^ by the ^^Holy 
Ghost.'' 

Of course, it is justly wise that this is 
not so, for our people have about all they 
can do to hold their own among the gold- 
hunting hordes of the present generation. 
However, be this as it is, we will return to 
our inspection of the history and reminis- 
cences of the Jews, prophets, and holy men 
of Palestine and Judaea, as they have come 
to us in the Bible. 

The author of the Gospel as per St. Luke, 
Chapter I, tells us that : 

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand 
to set forth in order a declaration of those 
things which are most surely believed 
among us, 

2. Even as they delivered them unto 
us, which from the beginning were eye- 
witnesses, and ministers of the word; 

3. It seemed good to me also, having 
had perfect understanding of all things 
from the very first, to write unto thee in 
order, most excellent Theophilus, 

4. That thou mightest know the cer- 
tainty of those things, wherein thou hast 
been instructed. 













m\. 











AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 299 

5. Theke was in the days of Herod, the 
king of Jndspa, a certain priest named 
Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his 
wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and 
her name was Elisabeth. 

Now this shows that there were plenty 
of other Gospels in circulation at this time. 
The Books which are now in the New 
Testament were sorted out of this con- 
glomeration of anonymous manuscripts. 
Let it be hoped for the sake of the faith- 
ful that the individuals upon whom fell the 
responsibility of making the selections 
from this assortment of writings were most 
excellent connoisseurs. Origen expresses 
himself as follows, about how the books 
were culled and forthwith delivered: 

"And that not four Gospels, but very many were 
written, out of which these we have were chosen 
and delivered to the churches, we may perceive." 

To cull out the right books, set aside the 
inferior, and reject the spurious writings, 
seems to have been a huge task, as those 
who were engaged in completing the list 
consumed a great deal of time, for we are 
informed that the process was a very slow 
one and that it is difficult to determine at 















fm 










GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

just what time the Canon was completed. 
Westcott's remarks are given below: 

*^This result [the formation of the canon] was 
obtained gradnally, spontaneously, silently. There 
is no evidence to show that at any time the claims 
of the apostolic writings to be placed on an equal 
footing with the Old Testament, which formed the 
first Christian Bible, were deliberately discussed 
and admitted. . . . Step by step the books which 
were stamped with apostolic authority were sepa- 
rated from the mass of other works which 
contained the traditions of less authoritative 
teachers.^' 

Somewhere between the years of 170 
and 180 A. D. began the formation and 
founding of the Eoman Catholic Church. 
At this period there seemed to be an in- 
clination to cut down the number of books ; 
and to look upon those that were selected 
as being inspired and divine. It will be 
recalled that the statement has been made 
in this work that the Early Christian 
Fathers inaugurated the idea that the 
books of the New Testament were of di- 
vine origin, and in a subsequent statement 
that it was in the minds of the heretics 
that the idea of inspiration and divinity 
had its first inception. 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 301 

There is no incongruity in these state- 
ments for the reason that the heretics and 
Early Fathers were both Christians, for 
that matter. Of course, they both belonged 
to different denominations and sects, but 
this does not mean that either were not 
Christians. The Fathers belonged to the 
followers of St. Peter (Peterines they were 
commonly called), and during the strug- 
gle for mastery the followers of St. Peter 
were the stronger, and out of this denom- 
ination has grown the Orthdox church. 

If it had so been decreed by fate that 
those who opposed this denomination had 
gained supremacy their Christian Fath- 
ers instead of the others would have be- 
come the authoritative head of Orthodoxy 
and Christian Theology, and those who 
now have that honor would have become 
heretics instead of the others. 

It is an incontestable fact, however, that 
those whom Orthodoxy has chosen to call 
heretics tvere the creators and first advo- 
cates of the theory that the books in the 
New Testament were inspired and divine 
and just as much the works of God as those 
contained in the Old Testament. 













N 















302 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



This theory and doctrine, of course, 
wonld not be held today by Orthodoxy and 
modern Theologians if the Early Ortho- 
dox Fathers had not appropriated it into 
their denomination. There can be no ques- 
tion but that the followers and advocates 
of Christian Theology are the lineal de- 
scendants and progeny of this orthodox 
denomination ; and whose beliefs they have 
had no lot nor part in forming for the 
Early Fathers originated them. 

The Early Fathers, as had been shown, 
felt the need of the authority, prestige and 
moral influence which would be given 
them by the promulgation of the idea and 
theory of inspiration and divinity With- 
out this idea abroad they felt they would 
be unable to give authority to the peculiar 
doctrines and beliefs which were con- 
stantly being advocated. 

The heretics ivere already using the the- 
ory of inspiration to help support their 
doctrines. All the books and Gospels dur- 
ing these periods, it should be remem- 
bered, were in the possession of the priests 
and Bishops. 

They were never put into the hands of 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 303 

the laity and even if they had been there 
were very few of them that had education 
enough to read them. The authority and 
influence that these supposedly inspired 
books had over the people were exclu- 
sively the result of their being read and 
used by the ecclesiasticals. 

These early ambitious Fathers, who, 
after they had spread abroad the idea of 
inspiration and planted the seeds of divin- 
ity, gave out the impression that they were 
acting under Holy orders and that what 
they did was the dictates of divine au- 
thority. 

This, of course, permitted them to in- 
clude or exclude any book or Gospel they 
saw fit when it came to the question of its 
being identified with the then oncoming 
Bible. This inevitably resulted in there 
being in circulation as many difiPerent 
Bibles as there were ambitious ecclesi- 
asticals to make them. 

In the advancement of their different 
ideas as to what constituted suitable books 
to be included in the Canon of the Bible, 
the early Fathers made no effort to deter- 
mine the comparative value of the books; 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

neither did they attempt to seek out a cri- 
terion to go by, any more than they con- 
cerned themselves about making a close 
investigation into their origin and history. 

Westcott informs us that their Canon 
was ^ ^formed by instinct and not by argu- 
ment." Instinct, as we all know, is a 
mighty poor factor by which to form even 
an opinion, let alone a Canon for a Bible. 
These so-called early authorities bickered 
and jangled until they grew weary of try- 
ing to agree as to just what books ought 
to be put into the Canon, and finally con- 
cluded that they could never agree, so the 
Church decided to have its councils decide 
by vote what books were most suitable to 
be put into the list. 

The books which received the largest 
number of votes were put into the Canon. 
It was St. Augustine's idea that those 
books favored by all the churches should 
go into the Bible. Those books on which 
there could be no amicable agreement were 
to be left for the churches to decide. New 
Testament revisions have been made since 
that time by Christian savants. Whenever 
a contested text came up for its first con- 























sideration a vote by the majority could 
authorize an amendment; however, when 
there came a second and final considera- 
tion it was necessary to have two-thirds of 
the members vote for it. 

This plan, however, failed to bring har- 
mony in the church as the councils did not 
agree. Some councils would insist upon 
forming a list by including books which 
another had discarded ; and discarding cer- 
tain books which some council had adopted. 
This was kept up until finally the Church 
called a large council, decided upon what 
books should go into the Canon, and said; 
^'Tliis is the Holy Bible, believe in it or 
you will be eternally damned.'' 

If we review the chronicle of the Bible 
we find, notwithstanding the denials of the- 
ologians and the protests of Christian the- 
ology, that in two thousand years there 
have been many vacillations and numerous 
alterations in its Canon. 

Somewhere around the year 145 A. D., 
Marcion, who has been accused of being 
a heretic, was the first to make a collec- 
tion of New Testament books. His collec- 
tion consisted of only one Gospel and ten 










mi 










Platb L.— BABYLONIAN BOUNDARY-STONE OR LANDMARK, recording the purchase of a 
plot of eround in Bit-Hanbi from Amil-Bcl.Ihe son of Hanbi. by Marduk-Nasir,'an;officer ol ihe 
klnKoi Babylon (about B.C. iioo?). (British Museum, No. 106.) 
Tne figures upon the upper part of the stone are supposed to represenfcertaln gorfsana.sr^ns of 
the Zodiac. States price ofthe Innd, viz.. 816 pieces of silver, paid in kind, and names the surveyor 
(Stiapiltu. the ison-of Itti-MarduU-batadhu). It closes wilt, a series of curses upon any fu,urc. gov- 
ernor of Bil-Hanbl, or officer of the government, or other person, who shall removn'this fever, 
lasting landmark " or attempt to interfere wriih the boundaries of the land described. uponilf TKe 
g^ods Anu. Bel, Ea, Sin, Shamash, Ishtar, Marduk, Adar Gula, Rammaou and J!{ebo are vntr^ted 
to destroy any such offender and liis children for ever and ever, 

Plate LVllI —ASSYRIAN ACCOUNT OF TH E DELUGE. A term^otta tablet, from the tlBrar* 
of Apsur banl-pal. (B. C. 668-626,.at Niniveh.) (British Museum, No. K. 3375.) 

XrfS-Coj <r. oorc«i«>eOs:>' 




>s <fl _. o «; . 

— Mf 



WAV 

C S VW 






3Wu«-2. 






c r, u 



u< .g-.c c.= -;j: u 5,^ n „ j^ .a;- 




«5J:£j3«Sou-''''S!t!."-£c-s3; 
i* S:>>-:5 .. " i? h^f .0 3 «i " ; 



iPSo2 2o^„„5 „»,m « 2 ! >» 









Tablet which contained the fnbnlous account of the flood, and some mystical lies about what 
eertaio unknown gods will do Christian Bibles contain many sucb superstitious illustrations. 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 307 

of ^^The Epistles of St. Paul,'' none of 
which were looked upon as being inspired 
or having been sent direct from God. 

"Faith in the divine authority or inspiration of 
current books had not yet arisen. . . . [Marcion] 
did not consider Paul's Epistles inspired or of 
divine authority." — ( Davidson. ) 

Now the fact should be kept well in mind 
that this was almost eighty years after St. 
Paul the Apostle had died. The following 
are "The ten Epistles of St. Paul/' which 
this heretic, so-called, selected and put into 
his collection: First and Second Thessa- 
lonians, Philemon, Colossians, First and 
Second Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, 
Ephesians, and Philippians. It will be 
noticed that he did not include First and 
Second Timothy, Hebrews nor Titus ; these 
books are now in the English Bible and 
are called inspired. 

Marcion 's Gospel has at all times been 
subjected to considerable criticism by or- 
thodoxy, which claims that it was the Gos- 
pel by St. Luke which had been mutilated. 
This, of course, is denied by the heretics, 
who claim that this Gospel was the original 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

manuscript and that the Gospel of St. Lnke 
was afterwards compiled from it. 

The truth of the whole controversy is 
that the Gospel which Marcion had did not 
have a name. St. Chrysostom states^ and 
there is no reason ivhy he should he disbe- 
lieved, that not one of the Apostles ever 
signed his name to any of the Gospels said 
to have been written by them. Their sig- 
natures were affixed by the Church many 
years later. 

The Church says they are genuine, but 
we have only the Church's word for it. It 
seems to be a very peculiar circumstance, 
to say the least, that we find during the 
period when Marcion flourished, which was 
over one hundred years after the death of 
Jesus, that, even if there was a Gospel 
in existence said to have been written by 
St. Luke, his signature had not as yet been 
affied to it. 

If the Gospel which Marcion had was 
St. Luke's, the interesting question, in the 
mind of the student and critical investi- 
gator, is, how did it so happen that Mar- 
cion, a heretic, got into his possession a 
Gospel, claimed to be genuine, before the 












im 













Orthodox Church got possession of it? The 
Church's claim that Marcion was a heretic 
is untenable, for it has since adopted the 
same Gospel. Orthodoxy says that his 
Gospel was different from the one that it 
subsequently put into the Canon. This is 
not true, for his Gospel was the very same, 
passage for passage, with the exception of 
some passages which were added later to 
the Gospel now in the New Testament ; this 
is the only difference between the Gospel 
that Marcion had and the present one 
which orthodoxy claims so much for. 

Every person readily understands how 
comments, made on the border of manu- 
scripts, eventually are, when re-copied, 
compiled into the whole. This, of course, 
adds passages to the original and makes 
it longer. When this happens, and there 
are in existence two Gospels from an orig- 
inal manuscript, the shortest one is genu- 
ine because it is older. Marcion 's Gospel 
must have been the original, because it was 
shorter than the present one. 

The charge that Marcion was a heretic 
is not well founded, for we find that he 
put no books into his Canon except those 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

he really thought were genuine. History 
shows that he was by far a more critical 
student of Christianity than Tertullian and 
Epiphanius, who violently attacked him 
for the crime of heresy. 

The Epistle now in the New Testament, 
said to be ' ' The Epistle of Paul the Apos- 
tle to the Ephesians/' Marcion claimed 
should rightfully have been, *'The Epistle 
of Paul the Apostle to the Laodiceans. ^ * 

If he had not sincerely believed this to 
be true, he would have had no reason to 
say so, or take pride in the fact that he had 
been the means of having it restored to its 
right name. The Apocryphal New Testa- 
ment, which contains the following super- 
scription on its title page. Translated from 
the original tongues^ and now collected into 
one volume^ compiled by Hone, London 
Edition, 1820, contains. The Epistle of St. 
Paul to the Laodiceans, page 94. There is 
a very old translation of this Epistle in 
the British Museum, among the Harleian 
MSS. Cod. 1212. 

Marcion did not include the parable 
about the prodigal son, St. Luke xv,, 11th 
verse, or the last two chapters of ^*The 




•^ 




















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 311 

Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Rom- 
ans/' because he either concluded they 
were spurious or they were not in the Gos- 
pel at that time. 

By reviewing the charges made against 
Marcion, it is found that they are ground- 
less. Tertullian accuses him of eliminat- 
ing the following words of Jesus : ^ ' Think 
not that I am come to destroy the law, or 
the prophets; I am not come to destroy, 
but to fulfill/' 

This instantly shows Tertullian 's igno- 
rance, as well as the worthlessness of his 
charge. For St. Luke's so-called Gospel 
does not contain this passage at all; and 
upon investigation it will be found in the 
fifth chapter of St. Matthew, 17th verse. 

Tertullian 's ignorance is glaring, for we 
find that he actually makes this charge in 
three different places. 

However, orthodoxy tells us, in the face 
of this, that Tertullian was a great author- 
ity, who gives satisfactory evidence as to 
the authenticity and origin of the books 
now in the Bible; while Marcion was a 
'^Heretic." The reader can draw his own 
conclusion. 






















312 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



Tertullian charges that Marcion be com- 
pelled to obliterate and expunge from the 
Gospel of St. Luke the following: ''But 
he answered and said, I am not sent but 
unto the lost sheep of the house of Is- 
rael. '^ ''But he answered and said, It is 
not meet to take the children's bread, and 
to cast it to dogs." No such passages are 
to be found in St. Luke. They appear in 
the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, 24th and 
26th verses. 

Epiphanius makes the same charge by 
accusing Marcion of leaving passages out 
of St. Luke which are in St. Matthew. As 
has been shown here, the accusations, that 
Marcion mutilated and altered the Grospels, 
are unwarranted and baseless. Another 
thing which has been observed, and taken 
into account by able historians and critical 
students is, that no author or writer who 
lived before Marcion ever has made any 
mention of the existence of this Gospel 
which is said "to be according to St. 
Luke.'' 

Historians also show that no writer, who 
lived after Marcion, mentions a Gospel by 









1 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 313 

St. Luke until Irenaeus speaks of it half 
a century later. 

The above are the true facts. There are 
some who say that this evidence, as re- 
corded by historians, is enough to found a 
suspicion that some individual later forged 
St. Luke's signature to the Gospel that 
Marcion had. 

There are, of course, some who do not 
take this view of the matter. The student 
can draw his own conclusion; all I have 
done is to cite the facts and testimony as 
recorded by competent historians, whose 
word we have a perfect right to conclude 
is more reliable than the statements and 
denials of Theologians and Christian The- 
ology who base their assertions on tradi- 
tional reports, or because they agree with 
their Dogmatic or preconceived beliefs. 























CHAPTER XIV. 

The First List of Books of the Old 
Testament. 

Eesearch and exploration into the 
archaic periods of theology and primitive 
religion evolves some very strange and, if 
I may say, ludicrous conclusions, charges, 
beliefs, superstitions, absurdities and in- 
congruities which are so irrational and 
preposterous that we could scarcely give 
them credence were it not for the unchal- 
lengeable and authentic testimony of quali- 
fied investigators and able historians^ 
whose capability and veracity no intelli- 
gent person, who is at all familiar with the 
text matter here under discussion, would 
ever think of attempting to question or 
overthrow. 

That all this is a fact, will be established 
to the perfect satisfaction of anyone who 
is an impartial investigator. The opinion 

314 


















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 315 

of others, the writer cares nothing about. 
However, proceeding with our investiga- 
tion, we return to the year 175 A. D. and 
find that the first list of Old Testament 
books which was made by a Christian au- 
thority and writer was by a Bishop named 
Melito of Sardis. 

Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History con- 
tains the following, which will show that 
even at so late a period as 175 A. D. that 
this Bishop of the Orthodox Christian 
Church was at his wits^ end to determine 
just what books the Old Testament con- 
tained until he went on a journey East- 
ward, for here follows his letter to Onesi- 
mus, as per the volume just referred to : 

"As you . . . were desirous of having an exact 
statement of the Old Testament, how many in 
number, and in what order the books were written, 
I have endeavored to perform this. . . . When, 
therefore, I went to the East and came as far as 
the place where these things were proclaimed and 
done, I accurately ascertained the books of the 
Old Testament, and send them to thee here below. 
The names are as follows: Of Moses, five books. 
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuter- 
onomy; Joshua, Judges. Euth; four of Kings (1 
Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings), two of 
Chronicles, the Psalms of David; Proverbs of 













? ^ 











GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

Solomon, which is also called Wisdom, Eccles- 
iastes. Song of Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book; 
Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra, Nehemiah/^ 

As remarked above, we have the testi- 
mony of historians, and the keen student 
will have three circumstances brought to 
his attention which Christian theology will 
find it difficult to explain away, as the fol- 
lowing questions will naturally be asked; 
First, why, at so late a date as 175 A. D., 
was it impossible for a Bishop of the 
Christian Church to tell what books com- 
posed the Old Testament until after he had 
gone to the East? 

Why did he in giving ^^an exact state- 
ment,'' fail to give in his list '^The 
Lamentations of Jeremiah" and "The 
Book of Esther?" If they were not in the 
list then, why are they in the Old Testa- 
ment to-day! Why are they noiv included 
in the Canonical list when they were not 
to he found by this Bishop of the Christian 
Church so late as 175 A. B.f 

Why was this Bishop so ignorant about 
the nature of the Sacred Gospels as not to 
know that "The Song of Solomon" and 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 317 

' ' The Proverbs ' ' are two separate and dis- 
tinct books? Why, if they were not then 
considered as two books, are they found 
to be such to-day? 

If this is not one of the incongruities 
under which Christian Theology is stag- 
gering, what is it? The individual who 
really founded the Canon of the New Tes- 
tament was Irenseus; along about the 
period of 180-200 A. D. Irengeus has been 
often referred to in this work and the 
reader has, or will, become comparatively 
familiar with his character, intellect and 
general fitness to handle the subject. It 
might be well, for the interests of the 
reader, to remark that it was between the 
years 170-180 A. D. that the compilation 
of the Four Gospels now in the New Tes- 
tament took place. It is said that the prob- 
able date of the compilation of the Gospels, 
said to have been written by the Apostles, 
whose names are signed to them, is as fol- 
lows : St. Matthews, 180 A. D. ; St. Luke, 
170 A. D. ; St. Mark, 174 A. D. ; St. John, 
178 A. D. Irena^us made use of these man- 
uscripts about as soon as they began to be 
circulated, although it seems to have been 








H — T" 












GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

as late as 200 A. D. before he had all of 
them in his possession. 

Irensens' list, or Canon, was composed 
of First John, Thirteen Epistles, claimed 
to have been written by St. Paul, Acts, 
and Eevelation. The Epistle of Paul the 
Apostle to the Hebrews he did not include. 
He added an appendix to his Bible and in 
it he put. The Second Epistle of John and 
The First Epistle General of Peter; and 
rejected The Second Epistle General of 
Peter, The General Epistle of James, The 
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the He- 
brews, The General Epistle of Jude, The 
Third Epistle of John, as well as The 
Shepherd of Hermas. 

It is interesting to note that we have 
now arrived at the period in the history of 
the Bible where its books were for the 
first time formed into a Canon which bore 
any similitude to the Bible used today; 
although, as has been shown above, Ire- 
naeus excluded many books that have since 
been voted into the Canon and held to be 
inspired. Owing to the fact that Irenseus 
was the first Christian writer to refer to 
the Gospels that are in use today, Theo- 






















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 319 

logians and Orthodoxy claim that they 
were in circulation before he mentions 
them; and that they were accepted as au- 
thoritative. Orthodoxy makes this claim, 
for it says that it would have been im- 
possible (if, as heretics claim, there were 
older Gospels being used), to set aside 
older books and substitute the later ones. 
Notwithstanding the claims of modern 
Theologians, this was not only within the 
limit of possibilities, but it is just exactly 
what happened, as the testimony of his- 
tory will show. The struggles which were 
continuously going on between the differ- 
ent denominations and sects during the 
period of the first and second century, as 
well as the hatred and rivalry between the 
followers of St. Peter, St. John and St. 
Paul, showed these different factions that 
it was an impossibility for one sect to 
down the other, or for one denomination to 
demand that their particular books be 
adopted. In other words, there was, at 
this period, a deadlock which the leaders 
realized must result in a compromise. This 
same thing happens to-day in politics; 
when the advocates of the candidates who 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



are in the lead realize that it will be impos- 
sible for either to be nominated, they con- 
solidate their votes and nominate some 
candidate not thought to have a chance. 

It will be recalled that at this period 
(170 A. D.) the Eoman Catholic Church 
was being founded by the merging of the 
smaller congregations into one great 
Church. Those who were the prime mov- 
ers in the forming of the Eoman Catholic 
Church soon recognized the necessity and 
importance of some list of books or a par- 
ticular Bible that could be referred to as 
having divine authority, and which would 
be recognized and accepted by everybody. 

It was the need, or rather the belief that 
it was needed, coupled with desire to sup- 
ply it, that brought about the founding of 
the Canon. To accomplish this it was nec- 
essary to suppress and eliminate the older 
books entirely; it was then that they were 
supplanted hy the newer ones* Subse- 
quent to this no two denominations made 
use of the same Gospels. In fact many 
sects only read from one book; this was 
the case for quite a long time, even after 
the Four Gospels had been adopted. 





















AND CHRlSTIAiS^ THEOLOGY 321 

The Gospel of St. Matthew was used ex- 
clusively by the Cerinthians and the Ebion- 
ites, while Marcion's Gospel was preferred 
by the Cerdonians as their only authority 
in divine instruction. The sect known as 
the Marcionites read from their own book. 

The Gospel of St. John was opposed by 
the Theodotians and the Alogis. The ad- 
herents of St. Peter accepted the Gospel 
of St. Mark; it being Peterine. The fol- 
lowers of St. Paul were partisans of the 
GosjDcl of St. Luke for the reason that it 
advocated Paulism. 

Under these circumstances the Church 
was destitute of that universal power and 
influence which was later obtained by the 
amalgamation of the different sects and 
divers denominations into one body, and 
the Canonization of books which would be 
received as Holy Scriptures and venerated 
by all. That the Bible as it stands to-day, 
amidst calmness and peace, begotten of the 
assumptions and claims of Modern Ortho- 
doxy, had a most stormy career during 
those periods of agitation, sedition, and 
turmoil, which marked the epoch of its his- 
tory, is a fact which its Apostolical letters 























322 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



confirm. That it is tlie fruit of a conven- 
tional compromise made among the early 
Christian Fathers, whose reminiscence 
dates back to ages incomprehensible and 
unfathomable only to the starry hiero- 
glyphics which the omnipotent Creator has 
written in the silvery dome of the ever- 
changing sky, the unimpeachable testimony 
of history confirms. 

That these primitive souls, who long cen- 
turies ago finished their ecclesiastical 
labors and passed over the ^^ great divide'' 
to meet their future fate and destiny, be- 
lieved they were justified in attempting to 
found a religion for the oncoming genera- 
tions none to-day will ever know, for while 
we in this age hear much of *^the wisdom 
of the ancient Jews,'' we can hardly rever- 
ence their doctrine and beliefs, which would 
have us think that the writings which they 
have left to posterity were received direct 
from the fountain of Divine Wisdom. For 
'tis thus we find it in all the Wisdom of 
the ancient Hebrews, whose Mystical teach- 
ings, phantom characters, seals, observa- 
tions, divinations, ramifications, allegorical 
form, and symbolical representations were 






















AXD CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 323 

supposed to teach spiritual intuition, divine 
inspiration, inspired realization and direct 
spiritual communication and intercourse 
with God. 

Men to-day, as of old, have long gazed 
far over the green fields, and then in their 
diligent search have turned their weary 
eyes to gaze once more at the stars in the 
spangled vault of heaven, vainly attempt- 
ing to find God; but as yet none has ever 
seen him. 

Again, men to-day, as in the days of 
yore, have mindfully turned an attentive 
ear to the gentle sighing breeze, and the 
tune of the murmuring brook in the vain 
hope that they would waft some lone mes- 
sage to them from the unknown God of the 
Scriptures; but none has ever come; and 
none ever will. 

Men have shrunk in fear and terror; 
shuddering like a reed in an angry sea, be- 
fore the blinding flashes of lightning; 
awed, they have cowered under the mighty 
rumblings of thunder, and held their breath 
in mental agitation for fear that the phan- 
tom God of Israel would smite them to the 
earth; but no petulant God has ever ap- 












^fsf^/^^VTN — p-ftr 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

peared, and none ever will. Let mankind 
in their groping and fanciful wandering 
remember the mighty words of ' ^ The Mas- 
ter Jesus," who thundered forth this in- 
structive message, '^ Seek ye the Kingdom 
of God within you.^' 

When men believe in ^'The Immanence 
of God'^ and learn to look for him in their 
own souls, they will find him, just as surely 
and truthfully as the limpid waters of the 
lake reflect the image of the sky with its 
shining lights in the dome of its sidereal 
throne. Never until then, brother. The 
fair green fields, the stars in the spangled 
vault of heaven, the sun and the moon, 
those blazing symbols in the sky's dome, 
the grand old ranges of the sacred and 
mighty Himalayas, the formation of the 
tender chalices of the pure lotuses that cling 
to the banks of the river Nile; the many 
planets which return to given points, ever 
reenacting their magical conjunctions in the 
blazing pathway of the Zodiac which is af- 
fected by the unceasing spiritual energy 
and force of the universe, ever pulsating, 
vibrating and blazing with divine light and 
glory, as it comes thundering down through 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 325 



the ages of eternity ; the starry symbols in 
their glittering dome; the earth, sea and 
air with their ponderous freight of organic 
and inorganic matter; the rivers, oceans, 
rocks, and valleys ever reflect their spirit- 
ual origin; and it is only in them that tve 
ivill ever find God, for he is manifested 
here, there and everywhere, as is well 
expressed in the following, which is an 
extract from a discourse delivered recently 
by a very able man to a congregation. 

God In Us and With Us. 

*^BUT SUBLIMER YET IS THE ASSURANCE 
THAT God IS MANIFESTED IN OUR PERSONAL, 
MORAL AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES. Of 

COURSE THE LIGHTNINGS ARE HiS MESSEN- 
GERS, AND THE THUNDERS ARE THE HERALDS 
OF His MAJESTY, BUT ' THE STILL, SMALL 
VOICE OF conscience' IS HiS AMBASSADOR, 
AND IN THAT SMALL VOICE WITHIN MAN GoD 
MAY BE FOUND ALSO. Of A CERTAINTY THE 
MOUNTAINS REVEAL A GoD, THE RIVERS AND 
THE OCEANS SPEAK OF HiM, THE FLOWERS 
MARK THE PATHWAY OF HiS POWER; BUT AS 
FOR ME, WITH EYES CLOSED I SEE HiM, WITH- 
OUT THE OUTWARD EAR I HEAR HiM, WITH- 



























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



OUT EVEN LOOKING UPON THE HEAVENS THE 

WORK OF His hands, or upon earth the 

FOOTSTOOL OF HiS GLORY, I BEHOLD HiM. ^I 
AM WITH YOU ALWAYS; I WILL NEVER LEAVE 
YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU,' IS HiS ASSURANCE. 

In CONSCIENCE IS God made manifest, 

CLOSER TO us THAN HANDS OR FEET AND 




NEARER TO US THAN BREATHING. 



fy 



The individual who wrote the manu- 
script, to which St. John's name was 
forged, was not blinded with those super- 
stitions which dogmatic theology would 
have you think, for he said: 

^'No man hath seen God at any time/' 
but theologians have since his time at- 
tended to all this. However, this is only 
one of the pitiful incongruities of Ortho- 
doxy which staggers along under the in- 
fluence of the vapours of superstition and 
mysticism. 

The God of Moses and Israel are hut 
reminiscences of a fragmentary absurdity; 
while dogmatic theology invites that chill 
and blindness which comes from standing 
in the gloomy shadows of ignorance and 
ancient superstitions. Surely the day and 






















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 327 

time must come when all mankind will 
know that the Kingdom and image of God 
is within them; for God is in the soul, and 
the soul is the reflex of God; and the fra- 
ternity of souls and the paternity of God, 
the original substance and essence of each 
being are the only true basis of brother- 
hood and religion. 

It is thus we will close this chapter and 
proceed with the investigation of the Gos- 
pels with but little hope of finding, in the 
labyrinth of idle superstition and wild 
speculation which surrounds their history, 
the jewel of consistency; or hearing one 
accordant note echo to us from these man- 
datory Masters of ecclesiology. 























SuppKEssiON" AND Substitution. 

St. Matthew^ Sixteenth Chapter, ISth 
verse: ''And I say also unto thee, that 
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I wil] 
build my church ; and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it.'' 

From the above it will be seen that the 
Gospel of St. Matthew adheres closely to 
St. Peter, just the same as the Gospel of 
St. Luke can be called Pauline, as it and 
the Fathers attest. 

The book of Eevelation, and the Gospel 
according to St. John, are Johannine; the 
Gospel of St. Paul is Pauline; that of St. 
Peter, Peterine. The statement has been 
made in this work, that the testimony of 
history shows that ''suppression and sub- 
stitution" was used and that the old Gos- 
pels were supplanted by the newer ones 

328 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 329 

later; if the reader is attentive he will be 
of the same opinion. 

Bishop Serapion, 190 A. D., who 
lived at Antioch, was present during 
a meeting in the church of Rhossus at 
Cilicia and observed that they read from 
the ^'Gospel of St. Peter," which pro- 
duced controversies; here follows an ex- 
tract from Eusebiu's Ecclesiastical His- 
tory written by the Bishop, in which he 
expresses himself about how surprised he 
was to find a New Gospel being read in 
the church of Rhossus of Cilicia. 

Now how does it come that the Gospel 
of St. Peter was a new and strange manu- 
script to a Christian Bishop! This was a 
new one on him and he as a Christian 
Bishop certainly must have been familiar 
with this Gospel if it previously had been 
included in the list. 

That there were older and other Gospels 
in existence and that they were suppressed 
and supplanted by the modern ones, there 
can be no question. Bishop Serapion's ex- 
tract : 

"But when I came to you I had supposed that 
all held to the true faith ; and as I had not perused 

























330 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

the Gospel presented by them under the name of 
Peter, I said, 'If this be the only thing that creates 
difference among you, let it be read/ But now 
having understood, from what was said to me, 
that their minds were enveloped in some heresy, I 
will make haste to come to you again." 

Eusebius, in a roundabout way acknowl- 
edges this suppression and substitution, 
and other able authorities concede it. If 
previous to this period there were no Gos- 
pels in existence, as Orthodoxy claims, and 
God supplied them, he certainly must have 
been very neglectful of the children of the 
earth previous to this date.* 

Whether the doctrines of Judaea and 
Jewish Scripture have been the best thing 
in the world for generations who have 
lived after, is a question that none can 
answer; for no other religion or doctrine 
has ever been permitted to develop and be 
tried against the doctrines of Jewish an- 
tiquity. It is said that competition is es- 
sential to business success. 

Why is it not so considered in Godly 
affairs. In the fifth century Theodoret, 

*The true facts are that the people were better off 
before the so-called Christian era. See first chapter of 
this work. 

























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 331 

who was overseeing the building of houses 
of worship, while engaged in this work dis- 
covered that the Gospel of Tatian (some- 
times called the Diatessaron) was being 
used in many of the Christian Orthodox 
Churches ; an extract from a work of which 
he was the author is given here : 

"I found also myself more than two hundred 
such books in our churches which had been re- 
ceived with respect: and having gathered all to- 
gether, I caused them to be laid aside, and intro- 
duced in their place the Gospels of the Four 
Evangelists." 

Here we have another statement from a 
Bishop who says that he found two hun- 
dred books and Gospels in circulation 
which he gathered together and caused to 
be laid aside and had them supplanted by 
the four Gospels. 

It seems that these old Gospels must 
have had a wide circulation among the 
churches which had not as yet adopted the 
Gospels of the Four Evangelists. David- 
son certainly seems to agree to this in the 
following : 

"Not until the latter half of the second century- 
did the present Gospels assume a canonical posi- 






















332 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



tion, superseding other worhs of a similar char^ 
acter, and receiving a divine authority/^ 

Of course, it will be quite a shock for 
pious Christians to learn that suppression 
and substitution* were practiced in these 
days, just as it will grind on their nerves 
to know that the Bible is the product of an 



*It has been shown on other pages of this work, that 
the reason why the older books were mutilated or thrown 
out, was because they taught the ' ' Unity of God, " " The 
Infinity of God," that *'God was Immanent," and 
within the soul of all mortals. This was in direct con- 
tradistinction to the superstitious dogmatic doctrine of 
the wratful God of the Hebrews, which the church was 
determined to establish. 

So it did away with those books of the ancient philoso- 
phers, and substituted the teachings of petro-paulism, 
taught in the so-called Jewish Scriptures and Gospels, 
which the Bishops and Priests claimed were inspired and 
the word of God, who like a farmer planted trees in the 
garden of Eden and appeared in person to Moses, Abra- 
ham and the whole clan of Jewish apostles and spurious 
prophets, whose writings are filled with absurdities, 
Oriental Myths and fabulous tales. 

It is melancholy to think so many millions, in what is 
called ' ' an enlightened age, ' ' should be gravely asked by 
high prelates and dignitaries to believe in these fables; 
but so it is. We are taught to put faith in the most 
foolish nonsense of the past ages, because forsooth the 
Jews are said to have believed it. Yet what did their 
belief achieve? So shocking were the corruptions, which 
that cancerous creed was scattering widely in the days of 
Jesus, as petro-paulism at present, that the Basilidians 
held that the God of the Jews was Satanas himself. 

The reader should understand the church is a "com- 
mercial establishment ' ' and operated as such, and could 
not exist if it did not have the masses bound with the 



















If 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 333 

Ecclesiastical compromise and not the 
word and law of God, Ministers and 
Priests will of course take notice. As we 
have seen, it was Father Irenseus who took 
upon himself the responsibility of limiting 
the Gospels, which were to be used by on- 
coming generations, to those of the Four 
Evangelists. 

Of course he had sufficient reasons for 
doing this, as we shall see later ; for a man 
who was competent to found a Canon for 
a '^Holy Bible'' should be able to give a 
very satisfactory reason for including only 
Four Gospels when he could just as well 
had six, eight or twenty had he cared to 
include them; there were plenty in exist- 
ence, as we have seen, so there can be no 
doubt on this score. 

Irenseus' excuse why he only allowed 
posterity Four Gospels will of course be 
the reason why orthodoxy has that num- 



strings of superstition and dogmatism. Preaching from 
spurious Gospels and forged books, is a money making 
business, that was founded on Hebrew fables and musty- 
superstitions. Let every man learn, that he must save 
his own soul by seeking God within himself, and that if 
every so-called Minister and Priest, saves his own soul 
and preserves his Physical well being he has all he 
can do. 





















tnr 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

ber today. This early Christian Father, 
whose memory posterity is supposed to 
venerate, gave as his reason the following 
remarkable extract, which is to be appre- 
ciated for its brevity and explicitness if not 
for its logic. 

Here follows what he said : 

"It is not possible that the gospels can be either 
more or fewer in number than they are. For, 
since there are four quarters of the earth in which 
we live, and four universal winds, while the church 
is scattered throughout all the world, and the 
^pillar and ground' of the church is the gospel and 
the spirit of life ; it is fitting that she should have 
four pillars breathing out immortality on every 
side, and vivifying men afresh. . . . Therefore 
the gospels are in accord with these things. . . . 
For the living creatures are quadriform and the 
gospel is quadriform. . . . These things being so, 
all who destroy the form of the gospel are vain, 
unlearned, and also audacious; those (I mean) 
who represent the aspects of the gospel as being 
either more in number than as aforesaid, or, on 
the other hand, fewer.'' 

Would not this look well on the fly-leaf 
of the Neiv Testament? Orthodoxy has, 
of course, turned the beacon lights of 
Christian Theology back into the past ages 
in a vain attempt to search out a reason 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 335 

why there were only Four Gospels instead 
of a dozen. 

The light must have flickered for it 
seems that theologians have never been 
able to discover just why God gave Four 
Gospels, instead of three, ^ye or more. If 
Orthodoxy ever has discovered the reason 
they have kept the black cloth of secrecy 
closely drawn over its grinning face to 
conceal its ludicrousness. 

The writer does not care to be farcical 
or attempt to get the reader to consider 
the subject under discussion a droll one, 
for it is far from it, as the sad records of 
superstition and Dogmatic Theology abun- 
dantly testify; it being a sad recital 
throughout. 

The pages of history teem with the deeds 
of horror committed under the supposed 
sanction of God. Mysticism and religious 
superstition have claimed their victims in 
every age of the world, from the pitiful 
victim who has met a sickly death as a re- 
ligious sacrifice on a funeral pyre during 
incantations and pow-wow in the Orient, 
to the deluded disciple of Eomanism who 
has fallen face downward in death while 






















336 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

working to earn the fifty or so dollars 
which must be paid the priest before that 
individuaPs ecclesiastical services can be 
obtained to say mass, in order to preserve 
the departed sonl of one who, the Church 
would have it believed, must suffer in Hell 
unless this money is paid and Holy obla- 
tion made. 

No more mournful sight is to be found 
in all the world than to witness men and 
women, who on other subjects have most 
excellent sense, wasting their lives bowing 
before the superstitions and absurdities of 
Orthodoxy. 

Oethodoxy Illogical. 
No theologian, minister or priest can 

give anything but an illogical explanation 
to the illegitimate Scriptures he advocates. 
Of course they will hold doggedly to 
the claim that Irenaeus was a man of most 
profound learning whose intellect was un- 
usually charged with divine illumination, 
but as to the truth of this claim, those of 
us who decline to be swayed by their false 
doctrines, have our own private well-found- 
ed opinion. 



























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 337 

His logic about the reason why there 
should only be Four Gospels they, of 
course, providing they know this much 
about the subject they are discussing, keep 
in the background. 

Orthodoxy also feels mighty uncomfort- 
able when interviewed as to its view of the 
fact that Irenseus stated that the age of 
*' Jesus the Master'' was fifty years when 
he died on the cross of Calvary, after serv- 
ing twenty years of active ministerial life. 
REMEMBER this statement, twenty 
years, 

Notv reader, please do not overlook the 
fact that he (Irenceus) ivas engaged in 
founding a Canon for the Bible which con- 
tained Gospels (which he claimed were di- 
vine) that state that the ecclesiastical func- 
tion of Jesus only covered a period of 
about three years, 

Maratori formed a Canon; the church 
claims its date as at about the same period 
that Irenaeus flourished. Into it went ' ' The 
Second Epistle of John," ''The First Epis- 
tle of John," ''The General Epistle of 
Jude," "Eevelation of St. John the Di- 
vine," "The Gospels of St. Luke," "St. 



























338 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

Mark,'' ^^St. Matthew and St. John," and 
*^The Acts of the Apostles," *^ together 
with thirteen manuscripts by Paul the 
Apostle." 

Maratori tells of two books which are 
now dead ones, viz.. Wisdom of Solomon, 
and Shepherd of Hermas ; he gives the in- 
teresting information that the Revelation 
of St. John the Divine and the Eevelation 
of St. Peter were all right and acceptable 
as far as he was concerned, but were op- 
posed by many. 

It will be noticed that he fails to include 
the First Epistle General of Peter, The 
Second Epistle General of Peter, The Epis- 
tle General of James, and The First Epis- 
tle General of John. These books, of 
course, are now in the New Testament. 

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the 
Laodiceans, which is now in The Apoc- 
ryphal New Testament, is referred to as 
the Epistle to the Hebrews; it refers also 
to the Epistle to the Alexandrians and 
claims both are forgeries. It claims Paul's 
name was forged to them; something or- 
thodoxy never mentions when it shouts so 
loud about the antiquity of this book. 














^y^-: 













AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 339 

This, of course, is amusing, and the in- 
vestigator will easily see how orthodoxy 
will grasp at anything to strengthen its 
claims when it cites, as testimony, writ- 
ings which we find were not mentioned un- 
til one and one-half century after the death 
of ''The Master Jesus." When Clement 
of Alexandria formed his Deutero-Canon- 
ical list, 210 A. D., he put The Epistle of 
Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, The Sec- 
ond Epistle of John, The General Epistle 
of Jude, now in the New Testament, on a 
par with The Epistle of Barnabas, now in 
The Apocryphal New Testament, and the 
Shepherd of Hermas, both of which have 
been rejected by Modern Theologians. 
Clement of Alexandria did not look upon 
any particular Canonical list as having 
divine authority; neither did he believe 
in rejecting certain books and adding oth- 
ers with the same seriousness as later au- 
thorities did. 

We will now consider Tertullian's idea 
of a Canon. His time was ten years later 
than Clement of Alexandria, that is, 210 
A. D. Into his list went The Gospel ac- 
cording to St. Matthew, The Gospel ac- 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



cording to St. Mark, The Gospel according 
to St. Luke, The Gospel according to St. 
John, The Acts of the Apostles, The First 
Epistle General of John, The Eevelation 
of St. John The Divine, and thirteen of 
The Epistles of Panl the Apostle. 

In a section, by themselves, he pnt The 
Apostle to the Hebrews, The General Epis- 
tle of Jude, The Second Epistle of John, 
The First Epistle General of Peter, The 
Shepherd of Hermas. These books he 
looked npon as nonauthoritative, but all of 
them, except the last named, are now in 
the Bible. 

It will be noted that he rejected entirely 
The Epistle General of James, The Third 
Epistle of John, and The Second Epistle 
General of Peter. These books have since 
been voted into the Canon, although he 
regarded them as spurious. 

The Syriacs, who were ancient Chris- 
tians, when they formed their Canon did 
not include such books as The General 
Epistle of Jude and Eevelation, and The 
Third Epistle of John, Second Epistle of 
John, and The Second Epistle of Peter. 
These are now all in the Modern Bible. 





















^s^r/Ki\ 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 341 



The Bible looked upon as authoritative 
by the ancient African Church, sometimes 
referred to as the original Latin version, 
rejected the Epistle of Paul to the He- 
brews, The Second Epistle General of 
Peter, and The Epistle General of James. 

Later it was decided to add The Epistle 
of Paul to the Hebrews, but only as a 
doubtful book. The list adopted by the 
Abyssinian Christians contained the Book 
of Enoch [called the Second Messenger of 
God, which was an ancient manuscript full 
of cuts and plates of ancient coins, sculp- 
tures, hieroglyphics, etc.], Asseneth- Jubi- 
lees. 

The Ascension of Isaiah, Fourth Esdras, 
and The Book of Enoch are in existence 
to-day. The others are dead ones, so far 
as we are concerned. This list was altered 
from time to time and contained more 
books than has been given here, but as they 
are unknown to the reader it would be 
useless to name them. 

The two Canons of the Bible founded 
in Egypt, at times referred to as the Mem- 
phitic and Thebaic Versions, both rejected 
The Revelation of St. John the Divine. 




























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



History now takes us on to a period 
thirty years later than the date of Ter- 
tullian's list, namely, 250 A. D. Origen 
at this time formed his list of Old Testa- 
ment Books and left out the following 
books which we have in the Bible to-day: 
Haggar, Zephaniah, Nahum, Obadiah, Jo- 
nah, Habakkuk, Hosea, Milachi; but in- 
cluded First and Second Maccabees and 
Jeremiah, which have been left out of the 
modern Canon. 

Why were these twelve books, if they 
were inspired and the work of God, left 
out? One hundred and fifty years later 
Rufinus included them. If Origen forgot 
to include them he was poor material for a 
Christian Father to be composed of. Ori- 
gen divided his list into three divisions, 
grading them accordingly. 

Into one division went The Gospels of 
St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. 
John, The Acts of The Apostles, and four- 
teen Epistles of Paul the Apostle; also, 
The First Epistle General of Peter, The 
First Epistle General of John; also. The 
Revelation of St. John the Divine. Into 
division two went such books as Barnabas, 











AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 343 












Preaching Peter, The Gospels of the Egyp- 
tians, etc. 

Into the third division went The Epistle 
General of James, The Epistle General of 
Jude, The Second Epistle General of 
Peter, The Second Epistle General of John 
and The Third Epistle General of John. 

These are now in the New Testament 
and on a level with all the other Books, 
but he put them third or of least value. 

Bishop Ulphilas made his version and 
called it Gothic. He left out The First 
Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings, 
and The Second Book of Kings, because 
he thought they contained war-like pass- 
ages which might excite the spirits. 

Most any kind of a superstitious idea 
was sufficient to exclude a book from the 
Bible during his period, 360 A. D. Almost 
four centuries of strife, argument, and 
controversies, and no universal or official 
Canon yet, this of course made it apparent 
to all concerned that the Bishops could 
never be a unit on the subject as to just 
what books should be included and what 
should be excluded from the Canon. 

About this time councils became active 






















in these matters, and a Christian con- 
course, the first of its kind to consider the 
subject, met in the year of 365 A. D. in 
Laodicea. It should here be remarked that 
Tertullian claims that ecclesiastics had in 
his time assembled to consider the Canon- 
ization of certain books but there could 
have been no general assemblage for little 
if anything was done to bring about a uni- 
versal agreement, as history shows. 

Jerome also mentions that a synod was 
held in Nicea to decide on the Canonicity 
of the books of those times. There is a 
traditionary report, which some writers 
mention, to the effect that when the Bish- 
ops met at Nicea prayer and solicitation 
were given up, imploring God that their 
supplication would bear fruit, when all at 
once the Gospels and books, which had 
been placed under the table during the in- 
vocation, that is, those which were Canon- 
ical, were by some supernatural power 
thrown with great force from beneath the 
table, while those which were not Canon- 
ical remained under the table. 

It is said that this was reported by a 
Lutheran named Pappus. When the coun- 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 345 

cil of ecclesiastically endowed Fathers as- 
sembled at Laodicea all the churches were 
not represented. The list the first to be 
generally decided upon was, however, ac- 
cepted later by the churches. 

Eeferring again to the heretics, it might 
be well for the reader to know that a ma- 
jority of those present who voted on this 
first Canonical list, which has since been 
adopted by the church, have since been 
numbered among the so-called heretics. 

The number of Bishops who voted was 
about thirty, and their decree, as given in 
Westcott's Canon, follows here: 

"Psalms composed by private men must not be 
read in the church, nor uncanonical books, but 
only the canonical books of the New and Old Tes- 
tament. How many books must be read?" 

It will be observed that this body of au- 
gust clergymen in authoritative tone says 
what books are to be read and what are to 
be discarded. This Canon, which as has 
been stated, was decided upon while the 
Fathers were in session in Laodicea, 365 
A. D., included two books in its list which 
orthodoxy has since discarded, namely, 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

tlie Epistle of Jeremiah and Baruch; and 
rejected Eevelation, which orthodoxy has 
since adopted. 

When Eevelation was dropped Athanas- 
ins of Alexandria, who was not on good 
terms with the Bishops of the churches at 
Laodicea, compiled his own list, and in- 
cluded Eevelation and rejected the Book 
of Esther, Jeremiah and Baruch. His list, 
he said, was composed of Godly works 
which none should alter. 

Bishop Amphilochius rejected The Book 
of Esther and questioned several others, 
which he said were thought spurious. 

All this shows that even after a list had 
been decided upon, as above, many Bishops 
and Divines were at variance ; and that en- 
mity existed between Eusebius and certain 
Divines. 

Gregory, a Bishop who had great influ- 
ence among the Eastern churches, rejected 
Eevelation. In his New Testament list he 
included The Four Gospels according to 
St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, 
The Acts of The Apostles, all but one of 
the Epistles of Paul the Apostle, The Gen- 













m 












AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 347 

eral Epistle of James, The First General 
Epistle of Peter, The Second Epistle Gen- 
eral of Peter, First Epistle General of 
John, The Second Epistle General of John, 
The Third General Epistle of John, The 
General Epistle of Jude, The Epistle Gen- 
eral of James, the two of Peter, the three 
by John and The General Epistle of Jnde 
— seven in nmnber and sometimes referred 
to as *^The Seven Catholic Epistles/' 

The reason why these seven Epistles are 
spoken of in this way, no one can tell, and 
any attempted explanation by theologians 
is ambiguous. Epiphanins put into his list 
Baruch and Jeremiah; this was at the be- 
ginning of the fifth century. 

St. Chrysostom, who also flourished 
about 407 A. D., rejected The Second Epis- 
tle General of John, also the Third, as well 
as the Second Epistle General of Peter, 
The General Epistle of Jude and The Rev- 
elations of St. John The Divine as spuri- 
ous. 

These are all in the Bible now. 

From his Old Testament list he rejected 
The First Book of the Chronicles, The Sec- 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

ond Book of The Chronicles, The Book of 
Esther, The Book of Job, and Lamenta- 
tions of Jeremiah. 

Orthodoxy now has all these books un- 
der its wing and if anyone were to express 
a doubt as to their being genuine works 
and the Divine Word of Grod, he would 
very quickly be told that all such unbeliev- 
ers would spend their eternal existence in 
Hades. 

If this is true, why does not Orthodoxy 
express itself as believing that St. Chrys- 
ostom, who was one of the Early Bishops, 
has been damned because he did not accept 
all the books that are now in the Bible as 
being the inspirational enunciation of Grod, 
as he showed his ignorance of certain titles 
now in the list and included some not there 
now. 

Theodore, who has been mentioned else- 
where in this treatise, a Bishop of Mop- 
suestia, likewise eliminated from his Canon 
The Book of Job, The General Epistle of 
James, The Second Epistle General of 
Peter, The Second Epistle of John, The 
General Epistle of Jude, and The Eevela- 
tion of St. John The Divine. 











Mt\ 








AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 349 

Modern theologians now swear by these 
books. Bishop Theodoret, who, as you 
have been informed, previously held forth 
in Cyrus, turned away from his list The 
Second Epistle General of John, The Third 
Epistle General of John, The Second Epis- 
tle General of Peter, The General Epistle 
of Jude. These are now accepted as gen- 
uine. 































CHAPTER XYI. 



Manusckipts of Centuries Ago. 



There are in existence what Christians 
claim to be three famous Manuscripts and 
they refer to these writings as an author- 
ity to settle all controversies; conse- 
quently, they are looked upon with great 
reverence. They are reminiscences of those 
Bibles used by the ancient Greeks and said 
to be very important. Whether their ex- 
istence is essential to the present genera- 
tion's spiritual and physical well-being is 
to be doubted, as their teachings and wis- 
dom are about as suitable for our use in 
matters of health and soul's satisfaction 
as the implements and tools of antiquity 
would be for our present day farmers and 
mechanics. 

However, Orthodoxy says back to the 
stone age and the musty manuscripts of 
the ancients, who were masters in super- 

350 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 351 

stitioTis doctrines and chicanery, we must 
go for instruction in all matters of the 
here and the hereafter, or it's damned we 
will be. Believe in the doctrines of ancient 
Judaea and the ritualism of tlie Jewish 
Scriptures or woe be unto you, chants Dog- 
matic Theology, for all will be chaos if you 
doubt. 

The three lists referred to above, and, 
as has been remarked, are supposed to be 
the oldest extant, are as follows: The 
Vatican List, Alexandrine List and Sinaitic 
List. The Alexandrine List is said to be 
of Egypt 500 A. D., and the following books 
are listed in its Old Testament: Wisdom 
of Jesus, Wisdom of Solomon, The Four 
Books of the Maccabees, Book of Judith, 
Book of Tobit, Book of Esdras. In its list 
of New Testament books are to be found 
Clement's Two Epistles, all of which were 
excluded from the Bible of modern Ortho- 
doxy. 

The Vatican List is now on deposit at 
Eome, in the library which also bears its 
name. This ancient list is similar to the 
Alexandrine list with the exception that it 
terminates at the ninth Chapter of He^ 















rrnni 















352 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

brews, 14tli verse. What the balance con- 
tained is unknown, for it has been de- 
stroyed. 

SINAITIC NEW TESTAMENT LIST. 

Tischendorf discovered this compilation 
of religious manuscripts at Sinai, St. Cath- 
erine 's Convent, about 1860. It is said to 
be the most aged codicil of its kind in ex- 
istence, being the product of the Fourth 
Century. It contains the Gospels of St. 
Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John, 
fourteen of the Epistles of St. Paul the 
Apostle, The Acts of The Apostles, The 
Epistle General of James, The First Epis- 
tle General of Peter, The Second Epistle 
General of Peter, The First Epistle Gen- 
eral of John, The Second Epistle General 
of John, The Third Epistle General of 
John, The General Epistle of Jude, The 
Eevelation of St. John the Divine, Shepard 
of Hermas, part of which has been mu- 
tilated, and The General Epistle of Bar- 
nabas.* The last named is now included 



* Superscription of THE GENEEAL EPISTLE OF 
BAENABAS. This superscription has been taken from 
the Aprocryphal New Testament, London Edi. (1820). 

























in the Canon of the Apocryphal New Tes- 
tament and bears the following superscrip- 
tion, which states that this book is genu- 
ine and just as Canonical as others. Yet 
it and Hermas have been excluded from 
the Modern Bible. For what reason Or- 
thodoxy, of course, knows best. 

The Clermont Tablet or Manuscript, 
which held sway in the African Church 
about 300 A. D., excluded from the Old 
Testament The First Book of the Chron- 
icles, The Second Book of the Chronicles, 



Barnabas was a companion and fellow preacher with 
Paul. This Epistle lays a greater claim to Canonical 
authority than most others. It has been cited by 
Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome, 
and many ancient Fathers. Cotelerius afl&rms that 
Origen and Jerome esteemed it genuine and Canonical; 
but Cotelerius himself did not believe it to be either 
one or the other; on the contrary, he supposes it was 
written for the benefit of the Ebonites (the Christianized 
Jews), who were tenacious of rights and ceremonies. 
Bishop Fell feared to own expressly what he seemed to 
be persuaded of, that it ought to be treated with the 
same respect as several of the books of the present 
Canon. Dr. Bernard Savilian, professor at Oxford, not 
only believed it to be genuine but that it was read 
throughout, in the churches at Alexandria, as the Canoni- 
cal Scriptures were. Dodwell supposed it to have been 
published before the Epistle of Jude, and the writings 
of both the Johns. Vossius, Dupuis, Dr. Cane, Dr. Mill, 
Dr. S. Clark, Whiston, and Archbishop Wake also es- 
teemed it genuine: Menardus, Archbishop Laud, Span- 
helm, and others, deemed it Apocryphal. 




\m 





















i — f 




ITT 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

The Lamentations of Jeremiah, and in- 
cluded The First Maccabees, The Second 
Maccabees, The Third Maccabees, The 
Book of Tobit, The Book of Judith, The 
Wisdom of Jesus, and Wisdom of Solo- 
mon. These have since been excluded by- 
later authorities. 

From his New Testament list he excluded 
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the 
Philippians, TheFirst Epistle of Paul the 
Apostle to the Thessalonians, The Second 
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessa- 
lonians, books now in the New Testament, 
and added The Eevelation of Peter, Acts 
of Paul, and The Shepherd of Hermas. 
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the He- 
brews, which Orthodoxy now gives an hon- 
orable position in the New Testament, 
went into this list under the name of ^ ' The 
General Epistle of Barnabas,'' referred to 
just previously in this work. Numerous 
other Bishops and Saints might be men- 
tioned as playing the game of * include 
and exclude'' while founding a Christian 
Canon, but these will do for now, but we 
will deal with the subject again later on. 

Enough, however, has been shown to 
























prove that during the early centuries Gos- 
pels were accepted which the Bishops and 
churches knew were spurious, not being 
included in the Canon. Some of these 
books were included later. Didymus, who 
flourished at about the close of the fourth 
century, states that The Second Epistle 
General of Peter was not in the Canon 
during his ministry, being looked upon as 
being spurious, yet it tvas used hy many 
churches. Orthodoxy of the present day 
brand accepts it as a divinely inspired 
hook, since it has been counted among the 
ecclesiastes. 

If any present day Orthodox Clergyman 
or Koman Priest should ever come out of 
the stupor, which Dogmatic Theology has 
thrown over him, long enough to believe, 
as some of these Bishops did, that it was 
not genuine but spurious, and wished to 
say this, he never would dare to say it, 
for it *^ would disturb the belief of his 
flock. ' ' He would then be cited for heresy, 
stripped of his frock and his name stricken 
from the pay-roll. This would take away 
the money needed for the wife and babes, 
which would be something he could never 















«— —.^ 








GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

stand in connection with being ostracised 
by the church and his friends. 

'Tis thus the minister is forced to give 
up any personal opinion he may have, for 
he must merge his individuality into that 
of ecclesiasticism and thunder forth from 
the pulpit beliefs and doctrines he does not 
believe to be true. That Christian The- 
ology (so-called, only, of course) forces 
many clergymen to live a pharisaical life 
is so glaring as to need no further comment 
here. 

ST. AUGUSTINE IN THE EOLE OF CHIEF POTEN- 
TATE AND HIGH PEIEST. 

That St. Augustine was the whole Iiead 
and shoulders and then something besides 
in any Christian Council in which he took 
part is plainly shown, for he ruled with a 
hand of steel that would make a modern 
statesman take a back seat, for he was 
chief potentate and head pontiff, and would 
tolerate no pragmatical conduct on the 
part of his constituents, as we shall soon 
see. 

This great, bright and brainy Christian, 
whose soul we are supposed to believe God 






















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 357 

charged with inspiration and "Wisdom 
Divine, '^ put into his list The Book of 
Judith, The Book of Tobit, The Wisdom of 
Solomon, First and Second Maccabees, and 
Ecclesiasticus. These are all excluded by 
the Protestants, but included by Eoman 
Catholics. The Lamentations of Jeremiah 
he would have none of, but it has been 
adopted by Catholic and Protestant. 

The assumption is that they need it to 
save souls from the infernal regions, but 
just how he got on without it has never 
been explained and never will he. 

St. Augustine's New Testament list was 
the same as that now in use. The power 
and authority of this man, in the forma- 
tion of the Bible, was far superior to any 
of the other Bishops or prelates and was 
not to be gainsaid. 

The truth of the matter is that it was 
St. Augustine's power and not God^s that 
established the Bible. It is one of the sad 
mistakes that theologians insist upon mak- 
ing in attributing to the Almighty God that 
which was simply the product of St. Au- 
gustine's tyrannical rule ; for when it came 
to establishing a vade-mecum of recondite 





i^. 











S^^ 















and transcendental religion that would 
hold oncoming generations spellbound by 
its phantasmatical doctrines he is without 
a peer. 

History shows that while Christian cab- 
inets voted on the Canon of the Bible and 
their conclusions later became the incor 
poreal sentiments of piously inclined peo- 
ple, the ratification was simply that of St. 
Augustine, the illustrious potentate who 
never failed to exercise his dictatorial 
power. 

If questions arose about the genuineness 
of a Gospel, St. Augustine decided it. 
Davidson, in remarking on this custom, 
tells us: 

"In relation to the New Testament, the synods 
which drew np lists of the sacred books show the 
opinion of some leading Father like Augustine, 
along with what custom had sanctioned. In this 
department no member of the synod exercised his 
critical faculty; a number together would decide 
such questions summarily. Bishops proceeded in 
the track of tradition or authority." 

A council was called at Hippo, Africa, 
to consider the Canon of the Bible in the 
year of 393 A. D. St. Augustine was there 
and his list was ratified forthwith, as it 





















— f^ 






AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 359 

was at the council of Carthage held in the 
year 397 A. D. His presence was all that 
was needed to have his views accepted. 
Another council held at the same place 
(Carthage) twenty- two years later meekly 
indorsed St. Augustine's Canon. That 
these Saints of the by-gone years, who, 
some would have us think, were all wise, 
knowing all the greater secrets and wishes 
of God, and to whom were unfolded his 
law, they being the recipients of divine 
light, knowledge and wisdom ; and thereby 
becoming illuminated with psychic prompt- 
ings, and mental impressions; were not 
blessed with a nature which was peaceful 
and angelical, but which was course, vicious 
and truculent, will be shown and absolute- 
ly proved before the reader has perused 
many more pages of this treatise. 

The Church to-day vents its spite and 
hatred upon those who refuse to assimilate 
and absorb its doctrines into their daily 
life ; thus mimicing the tyrannical conduct 
and tactics of its founders, who were irrev- 
erent, and guilty of the most flagitious 
and nefarious acts which are recorded on 
history's page. 



















Platb LI.-WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD. 

From a stone Tablet In the British MuS- tim, rerording the restoration of the Temple of the Sun-God 

at Sippafa, near iSabylon, by Nabu-pal-idinua, lung ut Uabylunia (about U. C. 900). 

The inscription on the left, \Hlhlch appears to be a description of the whole scene, reads : "TTie 



are placed ia opposition to the Abyss, between 




."and has reference to the three symbols 
in the shrine. The Inscription in front ot th« 
Ufity sealed in the shrine reads: "O Nfoon 
disk. O Sun, illuminate the face of Shamash." 

On the obverse and reverse of the tablet is 
an inscription enumerating the king;'e gifts, with 
rules for the dress of the priests, &c. 



Plate LIV.— ASSYRIAN WINGED MAN. 
HEADfcD LION. 

(From a doorway in the palace of Assur-nasir* 
pal, king of Assvria (B. C SS^-Beo), discovered 
atCatah (Ninu-iid), now in the British Museum ) 

AccordinBf to an inscription of Esar-haddon, 
the colossal figures which flanked the doorways 
of the royal palaces turned back the enemy and 
protected and blessed the paths of the kings who 
set thero up. 





Plate of Mystical Gods and sacred 
religion to impress the taitbful. 



ghosts of the past, now sheltered nnder the cloak Of 












m 






AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 361 



People of this age should not make the 
mistake of assuming that these so-called 
Christian councils were composed of ven- 
erable, wise and sagacious prelates, who 
prided themselves on being possessed of 
gentlemanly instincts and clerical dignity, 
who met to discuss in a dignified manner 
such important and sacred matters as 
came up for their consideration. 

It was just the reverse to this ; many of 
the prelates and Bishops were bigoted, 
vicious ruffians, who were supported by 
factions that would not hesitate to commit 
the most vicious acts, such as assault and 
murder, when opposed by some question 
of the Scriptures. 

How Orthodoxy and modern Theologians 
can consider these Bishops' asperity con- 
sistent with the sacredness which their 
subject is supposed to possess, has never 
been explained; for history shows that 
when these individuals assembled there 
occurred scenes which are best described 
in the words of able historians themselves, 
which are given in what follows. 

Dr. Philip Schaff, in his *' History of 
the Christian Church, ' ' now on the shelves 






















362 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



of the Chicago public library, tells ns some 
interesting facts not generally known 
about these Christian cabinets, which liter- 
ally overwhelm Christian Theology. 
He tells us : 

"Together with abundant talents, attainments, 
and virtues, there were gathered also at the coun- 
cils ignorance, intrigues, and partisan passions, 
which had already been excited on all sides by 
long controversies preceding, and now met and 
arrayed themselves, as hostile armies, for open 
combat/^ 

Does this not verify the assertion made 
by the writer that controversies were as 
common during the founding of Christian 
religion as daisies in a pasture field? Dean 
Milman, that able and eminent historian, 
tells us in his celebrated work, "The His- 
tory of Latin Christianity,'^ some interest- 
ing facts which clergymen try to bury by 
their eloquence and inspirational pulpit 
thunder. He says: 

"It might have been supposed that nowhere 
would Christianity appear in such commanding 
majesty as in a council, which should gather from 
all quarters of the world the most eminent 
prelates and the most distinguished clergy; that 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 363 

a lofty and serene piety would govern all their 
proceedings, and profound and dispassionate in- 
vestigation exhaust every subject; that human 
passions and interests would stand rebuked before 
that awful assembly; that the sense of their own 
dignity as well as the desire of impressing their 
Ijrethren with the solemnity and earnestness of 
their belief would at least exclude all intemper- 
ance of manner and language. . . . History shows 
the melancholy reverse. Nowhere is Christianity 
less attractive, and if we look to the ordinary tone 
and character of the proceedings, less authorita- 
tive than in the councils of the church. It is in 
general a fierce collision of two rival factions, 
neither of which will yield, each of which is 
solemnly pledged against conviction. Intrigue, 
injustice, violence, decisions on authority alone, 
and that the authority of a turbulent ma- 
jority, decisions by wild acclamation rather than 
by sober inquiry, detract from the reverence, and 
impugn the judgments, at least of the later coun- 
cils. The close is almost invariably a terrible 
anathema, in which it is impossible not to discern 
the tones of human hatred, of arrogant triumph, 
of rejoicing at the damnation imprecated against 
the humiliated adversity. . . . The degeneracy is 
rapid from the council of Nicea to that of Ephesus, 
where each party came determined to use every 
means of haste, manoeuvre, court influence, 
briber}^, to crush his adversary; where there was 
an encouragement of, if not an appeal to the vio- 
lence of the populace, to anticipate the decrees of 
the council : where each had his own tumultuous 
foreign rabble to back his quarrel; and neither 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



would scruple at any means to obtain the ratifica- 
tion of their anathemas through persecution by 
the civil government." 

The unmaiily conduct of the Bishops who 
attended these Christian councils seems to 
have ''got on the nerves/' figuratively 
speaking, of a Christian Father by the 
name of Gregory, from Nazi^nzus ; and he 
withdrew, severing all connection with any 
collection of Bishops, for he tells us in a 
very few words his opinion of them. It 
follows here: 

'^To tell the truth, I am inclined to shun every 
collection of bishops, because I have never yet seen 
that a synod came to a good end, or abated evils 
instead of increasing them. For in those assem- 
blies (and I do not think I express myself too 
strongly here) indescribable contentiousness and 
ambition prevail. . . . Thereof otc I have with- 
drawn myself, and have found rest to my soul 
only in solitude." 

Ephesus was the place where the council 
again convened; this was in the year 431 
A. D. and history shows that it could boast 
of no better conduct on the part of its 
members. 

If any one event in the founding of 
Christian religion has left the stigma of 





















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 365 

shame and dishonor upon its history it was 
the disgraceful proceedings which took 
place at this assemblage of Christians. 
Each denomination or sect had a following 
of the canaille, which formed itself into 
turbulent mobs ; composed of bathmen, sea- 
men, slaves, etc. 

Mixed with the rabble were the armed 
guards which the factions had to protect 
them. The ministers and priests of to-day 
speak from the pulpit and condemn those 
scenes which occur when poor half starved 
and under-paid workingmen are striking 
for more wages in order to be able to pay 
high rents and buy the bread and butter 
for wife and children but you never hear 
them tell of the riots and shameful conduct 
of which their progenitors, in the religious 
game, tvere guilty. 

When this, the third universal council 
of the Christian church, was assembled, 
everybody was prepared for violence, and 
the city of Ephesus was in an uproar, as it 
was necessary to have armed troops patrol 
the streets. 

John, a Bishop of Antioch, and Bishop 
Nestorius had body guards to shield them 













nrn 















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

against the attacks and violence of the ad- 
herents of Cyril. When the reading of 
the * imperial decree'' took place the pro- 
ceedings were so riotons that the prelates 
and Bishops were placed under arrest and 
told to ^^ come along, ^^ 

This took place after the two contending 
factions had clashed on the public streets, 
which resulted in bloodshed and broken 
heads. The Bishops shortly after these 
disgraceful doings attempted to hold a 
council at Constantinople, but so fearful 
were they of another riot that they were 
forced to adjourn. 

Eighteen years after these riots another 
assemblage of ecclesiastics took place at 
Ephesus. The doings of this synod are 
among the most odious that satirize the 
records of Theology. The proceedings 
were so infamous that this synod has since 
been known as the ^'Rohher^s Council.' ' 

Armed soldiers guarded Bishop Diosco- 
rus, whose despotic rule cowered his oppo- 
nents, who were so fearful for their per- 
sonal safety that they did not endeavor to 
take any active part in the proceedings. 
Theodoret was rejected from the council. 


























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 367 

Ensebius also came in for his share of 
violence, for when a communication was 
read from him it was met with howls of 
*^Let Eusebius be burnt, let him be burned 
alive, as he has cut Christ in two, so let 
him be cut in two/^* Leo, of Rome, had 
sent a communication, but those who were 
there for the purpose of presenting it were 
afraid to read it. 

When a Bishop was charged with un- 
chastity Dioscorus smothered the com- 
plaint by saying, ^^If you have an accusa- 
tion to make against his Orthodoxy, we 
will receive it; but we have not come to- 
gether to pass judgment concerning his 
chastity/' This Christian Cabinet had 
met for the express purpose of deciding, 
**Did Christ have two natures after his 
incarnation 1 ' ' 

If a question of this nature is not the 
caprice of a superstitious mind and un- 
worthy of the attention of an intelligent 
man, what is it I 

However, it was most seriously consid- 
ered by those Bishops. Dioscorus, together 
with his adherents, wanted Flavian and his 
followers to agree to the belief that he did 

*Dr. Philip Scliafs History of The Christian Church. 























not have two natures, and to sign their 
names to a statement to this effect. 

This Flavian and his disciples would not 
agree to, when all at once a body of armed 
soldiers followed by a howling mob, 
crowded in. 

Flavian and the other Bishops of his 
party were assaulted and forced to sign 
the confession before the sword's point. 

Dioscorus' object was now accomplished, 
for there were two factions in the field be- 
for the signing, but only one now. After 
the confession had been signed by Flavian, 
Dioscorus brutally struck him. It was in- 
deed cowardly for him to thus strike his 
opponent who had already been overcome. 
When he struck Flavian, his mob of sym- 
pathizers, a band of angry monks, fell 
upon Flavian, yelling, ' ' Kill him, kill him. ' ' 
So brutally did they strike and kick the 
poor man that he died* later as the result 
of the murderous assault made upon him 
by Bishop Dioscorus and his kind. 

Historians inform us that this is not the 

*Ur. Philip Schafs History of The Christian Church. 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 369 

last council that was disgraced by blood 
and riot. A council of Bishops held at 
Nicea was so hostile that the emperor 
forced it to adjourn and go in session at 
Chalcedon, where the armed soldiers 
could keep order. 

Here the Bishops were so ungentlemanly 
in their conduct that the laymen re- 
proached them for their lack of dignity. 
Dr. Philip Schaff, in his "History of the 
Christian Church/' says in reference to a 
council held at Chalcedon: 

'The introduction of the renowned expositor 
and historian Theodoret provoked a scene which 
almost involuntarily reminds us of the modern 
brawls of Greek and Eoman monks at the holy 
sepulchre under the restraining influence of the 
Turkish police. Theodoret's Egyptian opponents 
shouted with all their might : 'Away with him, 
this teacher of Nestorius.' His friends replied 
with equal violence : They forced us [at the Rob- 
ber Council] by blows to subscribe, away with the 
Manicteans, the enemies of Flavian, the enemies 
of the faith. Away with the murderer Dioscorus. 
AVho does not know his wicked deeds?' The 
Egyptian bishops cried again: 'Away with the 
Jew, the adversary of God, and call him not 
bishop.' To which the oriental bishops answered : 
'Away with the rioters, away with the murderers ! 
The orthodox man belongs to the council' " 























The soldiers were at last called to stop 
these disgraceful proceedings. A synod 
held 785 A. D. at Constantinople was de- 
nounced as a lot of madmen and fools by 
a council held at the same place two years 
later. One of the most irrational things 
in the world and the most stupendous ab- 
surdity that humanity has ever seen, is 
that Christian councils would attempt, by 
a vote of confirmation, to decide a fact 
which had already been decided ; of course 
a body of men or women can vote on a 
question which has not been decided and 
by vote can make it an established fact, 
that is to say, they can decide who is to 
be put m office or what laws shall be en- 
forced, but they cannot decide by vote a 
fact which their vote cannot alter. 

For a council to attempt to decide by 
vote whether ^'The Master Jesus'^ had one 
or two natures is anomalous to this. If 
he had two natures then he had them. If 
he had only one, then it's one he had, and 
a vote by a lot of ignorant Bishops could 
not make either a fact if it were not al- 
ready so. 

They might just as well attempt to de- 












n 















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 371 

cide five hundred years after this noble 
soul's death on the cross of Calvary wheth- 
er his death was a fact or not. If he died 
there, then it is a fact. If he did not die 
there then it is not a fact, and all the vot- 
ing by Bishops in the world can not 
change it. 

They might just as well attempt to de- 
cide the fact whether Jesus had an abnor- 
mal birth and settle by vote whether he 
was born of a virgin. Bishops and Minis- 
ters discuss these things with the utmost 
seriousness without seeing how absurd 
they are. They spend their lives trying to 
doctor up and keep alive a dead religion, 
closing their eyes to the facts piled up 
around them which literally overwhelm 
and defeat the doctrines of Christian theol- 
ogy. 
















CHAPTER XVII. 

More Abcjt the Christian Canon of the 

Bible. 

As we have learned something about 
what eminent historians have to say re- 
garding the character of those Bishops 
and prelates which assembled at the Chris- 
tian Councils, held to vote on the Canon 
of the Bible, we will now take up a fur- 
ther consideration of the Christian Canon. 

Jerome states that in the year of 420 
A. D. the following books were not in the 
Canon list: Book of Judith, Book of Si- 
rach, Two Maccabees, Book of Tobit, Book 
of Wisdom. On the say so of older au- 
thorities, he included in his New Testa- 
ment list The Revelation of St. John The 
Divine, and The Epistle of Paul the Apos- 
tle to the Hebrews. 

This shows that up to as late as 420 

372 




















A. D., which was the time of Jerome, that 
it ivas not an miusual thing for these tivo 
hooks to he excluded from the Canon. An- 
other list of his includes ^^The General 
Epistle of Barnabas," The Second Epistle 
General of Peter, The Second Epistle Gen- 
eral of John, The Third Epistle General 
of John, The General Epistle of Jude. 
These are all accepted today. 

The First Epistle of Clement to the Cor- 
inthians was, he says, read in the churches ; 
it is now in the Apocryphal New Testa- 
ment. The following is his superstitious 
and illogical reason for refusing to recog- 
nize the Apocryphal writings of the Old 
Testament, as the following from West- 
cott's Canon will show. 



"Both the Syriac and Chaldaic languages testify- 
that there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew 
alphabet. . . . Moreover, there are five double 
letters, . . . whence it is also thought by many 
that there are five double books, Samuel, Kings, 
Chronicles, Ezra with Xehemiah, and Jeremiah 
with Lamentations. In the same way, therefore, 
as there are twenty-two elements by which we 
write all Hebrew which we speak, so there are 
twenty-two volumes, by which letters, as it w^ere, 
the beginner is instructed in the doctrine of God." 



y\ 

























Eegarding the foolish idea of numbers, 
Westcott further remarks: 

"The desire to see a mystery in numbers finds a 
curious illustration in the confession of Metro- 
phanes Critopulus, where it is said that the Bible 
should contain "thirty-three books in all, equal 
in number to the years of our Savior's life." 

Many of the ancients believed in the 
potency of numbers ; indeed this old super- 
stition is still held by many to this very 
day. People to-day whose eyes have not 
been blinded by superstition and Dogmatic 
Theology do not have any faith in these 
mystical ideas which the ancient Hebrew 
reverenced so much ; but to those who have 
embraced the faiths of Christian Theology 
and Eomanism, and thereby become spirit- 
ually hypnotized, nothing is too illogical or 
absurd for them to reverence. 

The reason that the Eoman Catholics 
have more books of God in their Bible 
than the Protestants can boast of, is be- 
cause the Eoman Catholic list or Canon 
was decided by St. Augustine while the 
Canon of the English Protestant Bible was 
founded by Jerome. Martin Luther and 




H — T^\ 





















his adherents followed the Protestant 
Canon. 

Eegarding the ability and spiritual 
qualifications of these early Christian theo- 
logians, St. Augustine and Jerome, to 
found these lists, the reader can read what 
Davidson thinks, as his opinion follows 
here as it appears in his Canon: 

"Both were unfitted for the critical examination 
of such a topic. The former (St. Augustine) was 
a gifted spiritual man, lacking learning and inde- 
pendence. Tradition dominated all his ideas 
about the difficult or disputed books. . . . His 
judgment was weak, his sagacity moderate, and 
the absence of many-sidedness hindered a critical 
result. Jerome, again, was learned but timid, 
lacking the courage to face the question fairly or 
fundamentally, and the independence necessary 
to its right investigation. Belonging as he did 
to both churches, he recommended the practice of 
the one to the other. He, too, was chiefly in- 
fluenced by tradition." 


























CHAPTEE XVIII. 

The Apostolic Constitutions. 

The Apostolic Constitutions is a sort of 
vade-mecum for clergymen and priests, 
that is to say, it is a book of rules to keep 
divines in line, having been written about 
500 A. D. 

This so-called ^^ Apostolic Constitu- 
tions'' was never written by the Apostles; 
their names having been forged to the 
work, which shows how Christian Theology 
has attempted to give authority to manu- 
scripts and books by affixing the names of 
supposed great Christians to them. 

The ^^ Apostolic Constitutions" is as in- 
consistent as many other religious docu- 
ments which placard theology, for it 
drops from the New Testament list The 
General Epistle of James, The First Epis- 
tle General of Peter, The Second Epistle 

376 



















General of Peter, The First Epistle Gen- 
eral of John, The Second Epistle General 
of John, The Third Epistle General of 
John, The General Epistle of Jude, and 
The Eevelation of St. John the Divine. 

This is very peculiar, as it contains in a 
very precise manner all rules and direc- 
tions for carrying on Church services and 
gives the names of those books to be used. 
Another of these Apostolic lists puts in its 
Testament list The First Book of Macca- 
bees, The Second Book of Maccabees, The 
Book of Maccabee, The Book of Judith, 
The Book of Wisdom of Jesus. 

From its New Testament list it drops 
The Eevelation of St. John the Divine, and 
adds The Two Epistles of Clement {which 
are admitted forgeries), Clementine Con- 
stitutions. Today these books are counted 
among the dead ones; although this list 
and the one given previously are not the 
same, though in the same Canon. Cosmas 
Idicopleustes drops eight of the New Tes- 
tament list he had. He is the individual 
who claimed that the world was flat and 
wanted to know how, if the world was 
round, those on the opposite side of the 






















378 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



earth would be able to see Jesus descend 
from Heaven. At about the beginning of 
the seventh century, so great was the con- 
troversy about the Canonization of cer- 
tain books, that in order to have more har- 
mony a council was held at Constantinople 
and ratified the lists of Laodicea, and 
about all the other Canons they knew or 
ever heard of. This was done in a des- 
perate and final effort to please all, not- 
withstanding the inconsistency of adopt- 
ing so many lists that did not agree. 

However, about all the books in the sev- 
eral lists were contained in the following 
three: The Apostolic List, The Laodicean 
List and The Carthaginian List. In order 
to cover up the incongruity many claim 
that only these three were really ratified. 
This is not so; but even admitting that it 
were true, no two lists out of the three 
agree at that. 

This council turned down ^^The Clem- 
entine Constitutions, ' ' because they 
claimed it contained many interpolations. 
At a council, the fourth held at Toledo in 
the year of 632 A. D., St. Augustine's 
Canon was again adopted. Damascenas, 











AND CHRISTIAX THEOLOGY 379 











one hundred and eighteen years later, 
founded a list, and left out The Lamenta- 
tions of Jeremiah from his Old Testament, 
and included in his New Testament list 
those titles in the Apostolic Constitutions. 
Nicephorus, at the end of the eighth cen- 
tury, held the Book of Baruch as genuine, 
and discarded The Book of Esther as 
spurious. He thought no better of The 
Eevelation of St. John the Divine than he 
did of some books now in the Apocryphal 
New Testament. Theophylact, Photius 
and CEcumenius all regarded The Revela- 
tion of St. John the Divine as spurious. 
A remarkable instance by the way certain 
books and Gospels, which used to be ac- 
cepted as the word of God and looked upon 
as being inspired, is ''The Epistle to the 
Laodiceans,'' which was received as gen- 
uine and read in the churches for over one 
thousand years, beginning with the sixth 
century. Bishop Haymo and Gregory 
both said it was Paul's, as did Bishop John 
at Salisbury; this was also Alfric's opin- 
ion. 

This manuscript, which so many Bishops 
and early fathers said was genuine, was 




















380 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

translated into Latin, and was in the list 
of the ^'Gothic Bible at Toledo/' 800 A. D., 
also in Charlemagne's, which was once 
considered a great Bible ; the same can be 
said of the Gothic. Charlemagne's list is 
now on deposit in the British Mnseum. 
Twelve or more versions of it were pub- 
lished in German during the period which 
Martin Luther flourished. It was also in- 
cluded in many other great and magnif- 
icent Bibles, but today it is not mentioned. 
How is this? If it was the word of God, 
why has it not been preserved among the 
other Gospels, which are said to he his 
word? If it was not the word of God, why 
did it occupy such a prominent and hon- 
erable position in all these great Bibles? 
Orthodoxy, of course, will have some kind 
of a vague, but well lubricated explanation 
to offer, if you get it in the corner on this 
point. 

That intelligent critics, who live today, 
are not all the fools that have ever existed 
is proven by the fact that men way back in 
the eleventh century were curious on these 
very same questions, so when Orthodoxy 
flies into a spasm of rage at anyone having 
























individuality enough to do their own thinks 
ing, it has only to look back over its own 
records and it will find that intelligent men 
centuries ago have had very serious doubts 
indeed about whether all these heteroge- 
neous writings really were inspired and 
the word of God, as the following will 
show. 

Back in the twelfth century Henry the 
First sent a communication requesting 
Thomas Becket's secretary, who was 
none other than ^^John of Salisbury," to 
inform him as to the names of the books 
which should be in the Bible, giving the 
names of their authors. The answer ho 
received gave the list as it is at the pres- 
ent time, only he added ^^The Epistle to 
the Laodiceans," spoken of above. But 
when it came to the question of Canon, he 
said: 

"I consider that it is not of much importance 
either to me or to others what opinion be held. 
For whether we hold this opinion or that, it brings 
no damage to our salvation. But to indulge in a 
fierce controversy on a subject which is either in- 
different in its result or of little moment, is as 
bad as a sharp discussion about goat's wool be- 
tween friends." 












GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 













■;i 



This shows that it was with ^^John of 
Salisbury'' as it was with others of the 
day ; it mattered very little what books the 
Canon contained or whether they were 
gennine or spurious, just so they had a 
Bible. 

Bishop Ebed, as late as the fourteenth 
century, founded a Canon which he de- 
clared was composed of ^^ divine and in- 
spired books;" it contained: ^^The Book 
of Judith, The Story of Susanna, Lesser 
Daniel, The Book of Baruch, Wisdom of 
Solomon, and the Ecclesiasticus, The 
Fables of Esoph, King Herod's History, 
Book of Asiatha, and several other books 
which it would be useless to name here. 
However, a review of his idea shows that 
his list was nothing like those of today. 
A Christian Council at the beginning of 
the fifteenth century ratified his Canon. 















CHAPTER XIX. 



The Reformation. 



We have now arrived, in onr review and 
investigation of the religion of olden times, 
which has been overhauled and polished 
until it goes along fairly well today where 
doctrines of '^spiritual insight'' and 
^^ testimony of the spirit" thrive, un- 
less hit by the searchlight of truth, 
to the period of the ^'Reformation." 
Just why a religion founded upon 
the word of God should need reform- 
ing, the reformers, headed by Martin 
Luther, have failed to explain. Of course, 
all good Catholics and the blind followers 
j1 1^ are supposed to accept meekly the state- 
^ ment that there were sufficient reasons why 

it needed to be restored to a good state, 
that is to say, it needed forming anew. 

The Reformation was a great religious 
revolt, which took place in the 16th cen- 

383 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

tury. This rebellion and insurrection, 
which was caused by the mighty Luther, 
resulted in the establishment, over a large 
section of Europe, of the Protestant re- 
ligion. What is known among Protestants 
today as the ^'Eeformed Church'^ is a 
church which has been restored to a good 
state; or that section of the Protestant 
church which, on the ground of doctrine 
and discipline, separated from the section 
named of Martin Luther, adopting the Cal- 
vinistic theological system and ecclesias- 
tical polity. 

We shall now return to the time of the 
beginning of the revolt. For almost four- 
teen hundred years nothing but strife and 
controversies had grown in the fields of re- 
ligion; and it was with the wish and idea 
of eliminating these that attempts were 
made to remove dissension and substitute 
]3eace and harmony in its place. 

The idea seemed all right and one that 
would bear good fruit, but those who ad- 
vocated it had failed to reckon with the 
tyrannical characters and petulant dispo- 
sitions of the Prelates and Bishops, as the 
history of ecclesiology shows. Instead of 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 385 

those questions which had caused disputes, 
revolt and murder being amicably settled 
among the Bishops and Christian mag- 
nates, so harmony would blossom around 
the Church, open revolt broke forth more 
violent than ever before. 

When Martin Luther attempted to ad- 
vocate the right of individual judgToent, 
insurrection and mutiny were smoldering 
on all hands. The Bishops realizing this, 
and as the Church had already gained au- 
thority by proclaiming certain works the 
word of God, it took upon itself the whole 
and entire question of dealing with the 
Canon and settle for all time the question 
of the Canon and not tolerate any inter- 
ference from individuals. During the 16th 
century there were two councils held at 
Trent. 

It was about this time that Martin Lu- 
ther said that the Bible should be looked 
upon to decide all questions. This was 
opposed by the church, which considered 
traditional reports just as official and re- 
liable a source as the Bible, when it came 
to the matter of authority. Tradition, that 
is,, oral report from one generation to an- 






















other, or from age to age, was what suited 
the Church, for its very life, then, as it 
does today, depended upon traditionary 
conditions. The Bible is filled with such 
ambiguous sayings as ^^ According to," 
*'for it is said," ^'so it was written," or 
their equivalents. The Church was keen 
enough to know that tradition was one of 
its most reliable corner stones and it op- 
posed any movement which would not make 
it equal in authority to the Bible itself. 

Martin Luther wanted the Bible to be 
the absolute source of authority, and only 
to contain such books as had been generally 
accepted as genuine. He also was opposed 
to the Apocryphal books. The Church 
would not agree to the elimination of the 
Apocrypha. After several meetings, at 
which there were about thirty Bishops and 
Fathers present, who were divided into 
four cliques, there was another compromise 
on what books was to go into the Canon. 
The four cliques present all tried to get 
their ideas adopted, but as they were all 
different, this was impossible. They were 
all a unit on one point, however, and that 
was that *^oral report from one genera- 



























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 387 

tion to another'^ or **from one age to an- 
other '' was equal in authority to written 
reports or manuscripts. The absurdity of 
this is apparent, and it really is remark- 
able that modern theologians and minis- 
ters will insist upon having us believe that 
these men were great Christian scholars. 

Their absurd decision was equivalent to 
saying that rumor, gossip and hearsay, 
were equal to written evidence. On those 
matters which intelligent men would have 
agreed upon they were divided; and on 
those questions, which they should have 
different views upon, they agreed. Fac- 
tion number one insisted upon the books 
being divided into two lists; one list to 
contain the Canonical books ; the other, the 
uncanonical. Faction number two wanted 
the books divided into three sections ; viz., 
those which were considered genuine 
Apocryphal books, and those books of the 
New Testament which had been ques- 
tioned, and all uncanonical books rejected. 

Faction number three was not inclined 
to waste time by being critical; all they 
cared for was that the books be listed with- 
out making any inquiry as to whether they 


























388 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 




were anthoritative or not. Faction num- 
ber four insisted that all books, genuine, 
questionable. Apocryphal, and disputed, 
be listed together and called the word of 
God; having '^Divine authority.'' 

History shows that councils held previ- 
ously to this did some very peculiar things 
and this one was no exception. Uusally 
at a synod, where ''divine insight" and 
*' spiritually endowed mentalities" rule, 
pure stupidity predominates, and so it did 
at this council. About the seventh of 
March, 1546, faction number one and fac- 
tion number two consolidated, but it so 
happened that eight days later faction 
number three had the most votes, and the 
decree which follows here was made effec- 
tive, as Westcott's Canon will show: 



"The holy oecumenical and general council of 
Trent, . . . following the examples of the ortho- 
dox Fathers, receives and venerates all the books 
of the Old and New Testaments, . . . and also 
traditions pertaining to faith and conduct, . . . 
with an equal feeling of devotion and reverence. 
. . . The synod thought proper, therefore, to 
annex to this decree a catalogue of the sacred 
books, lest any doubt might arise concerning those 
that were approved of. They are the following: 


















:^ 







AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 389 

[Then are given the names of the books exactly 
as they stand in the Catholic Bible today, and the 
decree proceeds:] Now, if any one reading over 
these books in all their parts, as they are usually 
read in the Latin Vulgate edition, does not hold 
them for sacred and canonical [observe "canon- 
ical," not "inspired"] and, knowing the aforesaid 
traditions, does industriously contemn them, let 
him be anathema." 

The reader ^s attention is especially 
drawn to the last ivord in this remarkable 
decree, the ban and imprecation it places 
upon those who do not believe these books 
inspired. Here is the origin of the doc- 
trine that if we disbelieve in the supersti- 
tious, 'indecent" writings in the Old and 
New Testament, we will ''be damned.'' 
No person who knows the history of the 
Bible believes this grotesque lying doc- 
trine,, for it is far too bizarre. 

It will be noted that the author, in re- 
ferring to the Bible, used the term 
''indecent.'' This term can be justly ap- 
plied to several books in the Bible, for it is 
the most unclean book that circulates in 
the respectable home, and were some of 
the narrations contained on its pages cir- 
culated outside of this so-called inspired 























390 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



book, the federal government would ex- 
clude it from the mails as obscene matter. 
The indelicate rites of circumcision;* the 
abominable and monstrous story of Lot 
and his daughters is a case in point. 

The Eoman Catholic Church never has 
insisted upon inspiration, but stands pat 
on the fact and authority of rumor and 
tradition. However, as we all know, 
*^ rumor and inspiration" do not get on 
well together. If ''the faithful, '^ that is, 



*The nauseous covenant God is said to have made be- 
tween himself and Abraham, that every man-child in 
Abraham's household should be circumcised, (Genesis 
xviii), together with the whole ritualism of circum- 
cision, which is disgusting and loathsome, as well as 
what follows here, is an obscene and indecent story. 

The next chapter (Genesis xix) contains the account 
of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the 
events connected with their destruction. The first part 
of the chapter tells us that two angels visited Lot at 
Sodom, and eat with him, and that before the angels 
lay down for the night, the men of Sodom compassed 
the house round, both old and young, all the people from 
every quarter, and demanded that Lot should bring the 
men out, that they might make use of them in the com- 
mission of an unnatural crime. 

This I regard both as a gross and palpable falsehood, 
and as a most loathsome, filthy and indecent story. The 
idea that all the men in the city, both old and young, all 
the people, from every quarter, should come and make 
such a demand, is monstrous. The following verses make 
the story still more monstrous and nauseous. Lot goes 
out to the men of the city, and tells them that he refuses 
to give up his guests to be thus abused, and says, ''I 












' — f^^^ 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 391 

those who bow so meekly to Christian 
Theology and believe that peace and souPs 
satisfaction are not to be enjoyed outside 
of the church for fear of being damned, 
knew more about the real character of 
these fifty-three ignorant Bishops and 
prelates who met in the Council of Trent, 
March 15, 1546, they would not pay 
much attention to the saying, ^'believe the 
Bible or be damned.'' 

By reading a passage taken from West- 



have two daughters, which have not known man; let me, 
I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye unto 
them as is good in your eyes, only unto these men do 
nothing. ' ' 

Could any mortal man make such a proposal as this? 
And if any man on earth could be found capable of 
making such a proposal, should we call him righteous? 
Impossible. I cannot believe that a man could make 
such a proposal, much less can I believe that a person 
who could make such a proposal would be called by God 
himself a righteous man. 

Then follows the story of the destruction of the place 
by fire and brimstone from heaven, the conversion of 
Lot 's wife into a pillar of salt, for looking behind her on 
her escape from the city to the mountains. I question 
the truth of this part of the story also. I think it very 
probable that the state of the soil in that neighborhood, 
where Sodom and Gomorrah are supposed to have been 
situated, abounds with bitumen pits. It was oily, pitchy. 
And there are frequent eruptions of a bituminous or 
oily matter from the lake near that place. From this 
state of things in the neighborhood, the story or fable 
very probably had its origin. But the idea that a man 
who could offer his daughters to be abused at pleasure 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



cott's Canon, my reader will learn some- 
thing of the real character of those indi- 
viduals who adopted this dismal decree, 
which now follows : 

^This fatal decree — in which the council, har- 
assed by the fear of lay critics and ^grammarians,' 
gave a new aspect to the whole question, of the 
canon — was ratified by fifty-three prelates, among 
whom there was not . . . one scholar distin- 
guished for historical learning, not one who was 
fitted by special study for the examination of a 



by a whole city of men — men of the filthiest and most 
abominable character — should be called a righteous man, 
and set forth as an example to others, is monstrous. 
The idea that a book containing such a story could be 
appointed by God as an infallible guide to truth and 
righteousness, is almost unaccountable. 

The story that follows is, if possible, more palpably 
false, and more grossly indecent and disgusting than 
what has gone before. I refer to the story respecting 
Lot and his daughters while they were living in a cave 
in the mountains. I won't repeat it, for though I am 
wishful to reveal the true character of the Bible, I can- 
not induce myself to pollute the pages of this tract with 
an account so filthy and horrible, obscene and ill-omened. 

But let it be observed, in the first place, that the elder 
daughter of Lot is represented as saying to the younger 
one, ' ' Our father is old. ' ' Let the age of the father 
be taken into account, and then let the reader of the 
story judge whether that which follows could be true. 
I not only regard the story as merely improbable, but as 
absolutely impossible. 

The thing recorded never could take place. But if 
such a thing had taken place, it ought never to have 
been recorded in any book, much less in a book intended 
to be read by all mankind as a guide to truth, to virtue, 





















i — T 



AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 393 

subject in which the truth could alone be deter- 
mined by the voice of antiquity." 

After reading this what is there to say, 
what can one think? Of course ''graft'' 
and "bunk" might float within mental 
range, indeed it does approach so near that 
one is inclined to give expression to some 
such terms when all the cold facts become 
known. Just think these matters over to 
yourself. Just picture to yourself these 



and to heaven, I believe the story originated in the 
hatred which the Jews had to the Moabites and Ammo- 
nites, the reported descendants of Lot. ("Immanence 
of God," Part One, page 67.) Also read First Kings, 
2d and 3d verses, about old King David and the virgin 
Abishag. 



If the reader desires to go further into the writer's 
opinion of these books, such as Genesis, he can obtain a 
copy of * ' The Immanence of God. ' ' This work the 
writer had published previous to the present volume. 
In it will be found his opinion of these books, individu- 
ally, where Jacob is shown to be a magician and Abra- 
ham a very deceitful man, when he denies Sarah, his 
wife. 

The church today speak of Abraham as one of the 
Hebrew heroes of early Christianity, and a God-fearing 
man, but the truth is that he was an infamous harterer 
of his wife 's modesty, which he sold to two kings to 
gratify his ow^n avarice and gluttony. 

Of course clergyman while preaching about this patri- 
arch, of the so-called holy Scriptures, never mention 
how he unhesitatingly exposed Sarah to the danger, and 
crime of adultery. 

























394 GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

coarse, illiterate, ignorant, bigoted, super- 
stitions and overly ambitious individuals, 
whom the Churcli pleases to call Bishops, 
having the audacity and insolence to say 
that *4f we do not hold them sacred'' 
(the forged and mutilated books which 
they voted into the Canon), we will be 
damned. 

These books which are now in the Bible 
contain passage after passage which has 
been copied from Oriental manuscripts and 
the fanatical writings of the Hindus. If 
the reader doubts this statement he is do- 
ing his doubting because he is ignorant of 
the true facts, or, in other words, he only 
assumes they are not true for he really 
does not know that they are not. However, 
they are, and if he ever reads a set of ^ ' The 
Sacred Books of the East" (twenty-four 
volumes), he will have an opportunity to 
see for himself, which will be better than 
taking my say so for it. He will then see 
that many passages now in the Bible, which 
are thought Sacred, have been copied from 
the mythical books of India. 

However, just keep a mental picture of 
these Bishops and Prelates in your mind. 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 395 

these faded buds of religious authority, 
and begin to learn to do your own thinking 
about matters pertaining to the present 
and the hereafter. If the church would 
devote one-tenth of the time it spends in 
trying to fan breath into a mystical re- 
ligion in helping the people with their phys- 
ical and worldly affairs, the spiritual ones 
would take care of themselves. If threats 
of being damned are necessary to keep 
from getting damned, then Christian 
religion is indeed bad off. 

However, there is a whole lot of consola- 
tion and souPs satisfaction in knowing that 
it is all a fabulous tale and superstitious 
lie, founded on ambition and stupidity, 
without one whit of truth in it. No need 
to worry. No, not half as much need for 
us disbelievers to worry as there is for 
the ministers, for it keeps some of them 
busy to keep out of the hands of the grand 
juries, as all will agree who have been 
reading the Chicago papers this year. 

Then again don't overlook the fact of 
considering the character and fitness of 
those who palmed off these books on their 
fellow-beings, representing that what they 






m 






y^^ 













did was the work of God. Those books, 
which are now in the Bible, are not there 
because God put them there ; they are there 
because just ordinary ambitious men put 
them there. These men said such and 
such books shall go in, and then they called 
it the Bible and said believe it or *^you 
know.'' ^'God had nothing to do with the 
subject.'' If he had, he would have turned 
his face in shame at the conduct of those 
who established the Bible. 

It is also a noteworthy fact that this 
decree, called ^'The holy oecumenical and 
general council of Trent/' the first of its 
kind, came like a bolt from a clear sky, for 
this was the first time that the Church had 
attempted to say to the people that what 
had heretofore only been accepted as an 
opinion, without proof, should now be em- 
braced as a belief, which positively must 
be assented to or those who refused would 
suffer *' eternal damnation.'' 

As we all, who have studied the subject, 
know, this belief in eternal punishment is 
too absurd and grotesque to be given seri- 
ous consideration. 





















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 397 



Once the Church established this super- 
stitious belief and dogma, which the Bible 
itself does not teach, there immediately 
followed in its wake a horde of super- 
natural doctrines and myths, which dis- 
seminated the belief that God is operating 
a private Hell, somewhere in the lower re- 
gions with the devil as chief in charge. God 
is also supposed to be at the head of a 
special supernatural divine agency, work- 
ing miracles in connection with the revela- 
tions and fabulous myths taught in the 
Gospels. These beliefs and superstitions 
hold sway with many until this very day. 

This decree, which enunciated a religion 
of fanaticism that is purely chimerical, 
decided the list and Canon, as far as the 
Roman Catholic Church was concerned. 
Years later many resented it, but their ef- 
forts to alter it were fruitless, as they 
could not overcome the dictates of the 
Roman Church. In order to carry out the 
farce and consummate the absurdity, the 
Church of Rome, after positively declaring 
for thirteen hundred years that the ** Reve- 
lation of St. John The Divine*' was a 
forgery and never was written by John, 























and as a consequence of this should be re- 
jected from the Canon, deliberately turned 
coat and in 1672 at Jerusalem decided to 
adopt the counciPs decree made at Trent, 
which included The Eevelation of St. John. 

The Eastern Church to-day looks upon 
this book as being just as sacred as any in 
its list. 

It was here that the dogma of believe 
in the Bible or *^be damned/' as taught 
in the Church to-day, had its first incep- 
tion, and it is needless to say that it has 
been well nursed and mothered ever since 
by those who make their bread and butter 
by its promulgation. 

Protestants kneel at the shrine of the 
Holy Bible, believing it infallible; being 
a sect of ** Bible worshipers,'' making a 
fetich of it. Eoman Catholics are not so 
strongly adhered to fetichism, in fact, they 
don't look upon the Bible as being the 
whole thing in religion and never have. 
Catholicism would still continue to flourish 
if the Bible were to be swept out of exist- 
ence; the Church would lose none of its 
influence. The reason of this is that, as 
has been shown here, the Church estab- 






















lisbed the Bible, the Bible did not create 
or establish the Church. That the Bible 
should be the creation of ** belief, '^ and 
not *' belief the creation of the Bible, is 
absurd. Belief, inspiration and divinity 
were never thought of until years after the 
boohs which compose the Bible had been 
written, so it can be fully appreciated that 
the book created the belief, and not ^'be- 
lief that created the book. 

The Orthodox Protestant Church saw 
that it must have a Bible that was infalli- 
ble, because it, the Church, was infallible; 
so it made the Bible infallible, something 
it had not been previously considered, by 
saying that it was of divine authority and 
inspired. This the Church was really 
forced to do, for unless the Protestant 
Church had a Bible which it could claim as 
infallible it would not last long. 

The history of the world shows that 
among different nations there are divers 
superstitions and beliefs. The Chinaman 
believes in his 'Moss Stick,'' while the 
Hindu believes in Buddha or his equiva- 
lent. If anything happens to overthrow 
one belief another rises in its place. Again, 



















to kill out one superstition or belief, you 
generally have to do it with the promulga- 
tion of another. Beliefs change with the 
ages of the world. There are very few to- 
day, however, who have been able to put 
aside the superstition and belief in The- 
ology and remain without some kind of a 
belief in the dogmas of to-day. Not many 
there are who can peacefully , calmly and 
truthfully reject all dogmas and believe in 
the divine power {God) within their own 
soul. 

When men and women learn to have 
'^ belief in themselves , then they will find 
the true God and not until then. He who 
believes in himself will hear God's word, 
but it will never be found in the moldy 
myths and fabulous tales contained in the 
book known as the Bible. 

The Eoman Catholic Church had the ad- 
vantage, for antiquity gave it influence 
and at the same time added to its prestige. 
For this reason it set out claims of being 
the original and official church of God, not- 
withstanding the fact that its doctrines 
were chatoyant. Because of its prestige, 
Catholicism threatened the adherents of 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



Martin Luther with everlasting damnation 
and eternal punishment. 

MARTIN LUTHER AND JOHN CALVIN. 

The people those days were illiterate and 
superstitious enough to believe this horri- 
ble fate would be upon them, because the 
church said so; at l6ast very many did. 
Martin Luther, John Calvin, and their 
friends saw that they must do something 
to overcome this, so they claimed that the 
books in the Bible were inspired by God. 
The books had been in existence so long by 
this time that their origin was about for- 
gotten by the masses who were ignorant 
and little versed in these matters, so it was 
not a difficult matter to get men and women 
to believe that these books and Gospels 
which had been written in an impressive 
and mystical manner about God was really 
the word of God and written by him. ^^All 
is not gold that glitters/' Remember that 
if the Bible is a book about God it was not 
necessarily written by God. 

Those who had attempted to bring about 
the Reformation claimed that the Bible 
was the whole authority, while those who 






















402 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



opposed them claimed that the Church was 
the only source of the law. 

W TT W TT 

The next scenes are almost too horrible 
to describe, for the threats and noise from 
Vatican Hill in Eome was responded to by 
the boom of guns and the angry roar of 
artillery. 

Armed troops fought, while all around 
them was the sickening sight of the wound- 
ed, dead, and dying, many lives were sacri- 
ficed so that belief and faith in the fabulous 
doctrine of inspiration and divine author- 
ity of the Bible could go on. Think of it 
quietly, and sensibly, my reader, and see 
if you can give any good reason why it was 
necessary to establish God's word and 
found a religion at the point of a bayonet 
and mouth of a cannon belching forth 
death and misery. The doctrine of ' ^ infal- 
lible and divine inspiration ^^ is a myth and 
had its origin in the minds of ignorant 
men {no, they were not saints), who were 
living in a superstitious and phantom age, 
and so fantastical that they would maim 
and kill their fellow beings in order to have 
their grotesque beliefs established. 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 403 

Those who say this is not true are re- 
quested to carefully and thoughtfully read 
the following. This fanatical decree was 
adopted by the adherents of John Calvin 
at Switzerland, 1675, and was taken from 
Col. Conf. hy Niemeyer. After you have 
read it we will then carefully go over its 
true import, not that the writer cares to be 
too analytical but to have you fully under- 
stand just how inconsistent it is; and to 
give you the exact truth about Christian 
theology if you want it. 

The decree of John Calvin and his ad- 
herents: 

"Almighty God not only provided that his word, 
which is a power to every one who believes, should 
be committed to writing through Moses, the 
Prophets, and Apostles, but also has watched over 
it with a fatherly care up to the present time, and 
guarded lest it might be corrupted by the craft 
of Satan or any fraud of men. . . . The Hebrew 
volume of the Old Testament, which we have re- 
ceived from the tradition of the Jewish church — 
to which formerly the oracles of God were com- 
mitted — and retain at the present day, both in its 
consonants and in its vowels, the points them- 
selves, or at least the force of the points, and both 
in its substance and its words, is divinely inspired, 
so that, together with the volume of the 'New Tes- 
tament, it is the single and uncorrupted rule of 




















T"""^^ — Y 






GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

our faith and life, by whose standard, as by a 
touchstone, all versions which exist, whether East- 
ern or Western, must be tried, and wherever they 
vary, be made conformable to it." 

There are three points in this super- 
cilious dogma that show its morbid fero- 
ciousness. The reader will notice that it 
states ^Hhat Almighty God watched over 
it (meaning the Bible) with a fatherly care 
up to the present, and guarded lest it 
might be corrupted by the craft of Satan 
or any fraud of 'men;' '' yet it is known 
that Griesbach made a collection of nearly 
two hundred thousand different readings 
and writings in the New Testament manu- 
scripts and books alone. Now a large pro- 
portion of these must be spurious and cor- 
ruptions; as there cannot be several cor- 
rect readings for one passage. Yet it says 
that God always guarded it. 

Next this remarkable decree speaks of 
the vowels being divinely inspired, when 
the language and literature of the ancient 
Hebrews contained no vowels. Again it 
states that **both the consonants and its 
vowels, or at least the force of the points 
of them were divinely inspired, when they 











AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 405 



S^ 



'■'■' z 



^^ 



were not used until seven hundred years 
after Jesus was dead, and it was four hun- 
dred years later before they were per- 
fected. 

This last is in keeping with the fabulous 
and superstitious idea that those who cop- 
ied and translated the books and Gospels 
were divinely inspired. Another council 
about the middle of the 16th century stated 
that, we embrace the Holy Scriptures of 
these two volumes of the Old and New 
Testament, which are called Canonical 
books, about which there is no contro- 
versy. ' ' It refers, of course, to the general 
list which had been contested for fifteen 
centuries; this, however, did not prevent 
them from altering the decree so it read, 
* ' about which there never was any contro- 
versy. ' ' Further it states, * * And we believe 
all those things contained in them, because 
the Holy Spirit witnesses to our con- 
sciences that they emanated from God.'' 
Eeader, think this over. I have laid the 
facts before you. 

"•F ^F ^" "^ 'fp "V ^p 

Orthodoxy tells us that we should not 
depend on our reasoning faculties to de- 
























406 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

cide about divine works, *^for it is neces- 
sary to feel the evidence of the divine 
spirit'' before we can have faith in its 
dogmas. Evidence of the spirit is the only 
testimony we can rely on, so it says. How 
can theologians expect intelligent people 
to experience the testimony of a thing 
known to be untrue or intangible to our 
senses? We have an amusing spectacle 
in seeing the church offering and believing 
in testimony, which they say is **of the 
spirit,'' when it is false. 

*' Testimony of the spirit" is as absurd 
as an overdrawn dream. Christian Theol- 
ogy claims to possess it, but this is one 
of the many of its delusions. Of course, 
an individual can be sincere in his belief 
in a thing when the thing itself is a delu- 
sion and false. The Christian religion is 
false in all its premises, and the deluded 
disciple of Christianity allows his imagina- 
tion to give its doctrines the appearance of 
truth. 

People suffering from mental diseases 
have an hallucination and imagine that 
they see certain things, but of course they 
are not tangible and only exist in their im- 

























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 407 

agination. People who insist upon believ- 
ing that the Bible is inspired and the word 
of God are suffering from a moral hallu- 
cination, so much so that they, like some 
of the deluded ancients, really believe that 
they have seen God and felt the influence 
of the spirit. This, of course, is nothing 
but a case of self-hypnotization. Ortho- 
doxy while claiming that the Bible is the 
word and works of God had great trouble 
in finding out just what the Bible ought 
to be. 

Christians in the past were so vicious in 
their denunciation of all who opposed their 
views that, for a time, criticism was about 
suppressed; however, their methods of 
forestalling legitimate investigation into 
their claims have had very little effect on 
the writer, who has received some very 
vulgar and threatening communications 
from people who professed to be protecting 
religion and defending the priests and min- 
isters. Of course for all attempts to sup- 
press this work and the one which pre- 
ceded it, **The Immanence of God,'' 
the writer cares nothing. No effort on the 
part of the Church will ever suppress these 


















books and they shall be published in all 
languages. 

V* •SP W TP "Tp tF tP 

The writer is about ready to bring this 
treatise to a close, but before doing so will 
cite several more facts that will justify 
any intelligent person in believing that the 
Christian Religion is resting on false and 
hollow claims that cannot stand the search- 
light of absolute truth to be turned back 
over the pages of its history, until all facts 
are known. When the men and women of 
to-day understand that Orthodoxy is a 
farce and that the God of Christian The- 
ology has no existence, they will put men 
in the pulpits of the churches who will 
preach a true religion,* and not a false one 

*The Guiding Power — What every man needs is a 
guiding power. A religion that will allow him to make 
a practical personal demonstration. A Christian religion 
that will prove equal to the demands of his earthly ex- 
istence. 

When you teach him the truth about himself you show 
him that his soul is a divine entity, and that he can 
preserve or shorten his earthly existence according to 
his will. 

What did The Master Jesus affirm when he said 
greater works than these shall ye do? 

The Church that offers hope, health, self-control and 
teachings that will help men with their physical and ma- 
terial ailments, is the Church that will appeal to the 
people. 









WVK?' 













AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 409 

which has been founded on superstition 
and fabulous myths. People will some day 
learn how the true teachings which man- 
kind should receive, have been, by igno- 
rance, stultiloquence, and successful stu- 
pidity, distorted and misstated by bigoted 
Bishops and Prelates who have, in order 
to give them authority, substituted the 



The present state of mankind to-day is an indictment 
of the ministers and their conventional, dogmatic views. 

The religion and Church which bring out the full frui- 
tion of the Perfected Spiritual Power of the Human 
Soul, is the church which can write '' SUCCESS" in let- 
ters of Living Fire. All men would, as a necessity, give 
themselves up to a religion that was in accordance with 
the elements contained in the Human Soul and Physical 
Body. Mankind would then realize the truth of The 
Master's Teachings, for the Church would become the 
Healer and Blesser of Men. The Master taught that 
true Healing is by the Spirit, not of the spirit. 

Men could then gain the necessary light for Proving, 
Substantiating, and knowing that the ultimate ' ' Guiding 
Power ' ' which would lead them to a healthy and peaceful 
life is the Soul (God) within them. 

The wisdom of Jesus The Master taught that the 
soul is an Individual Spirit or Divine Entity, the Inde- 
tructible, Immortal One. In the religion of Jesus there 
is health. In Dogmatic Theology there is disease and 
darkness. 

In the True Teachings of the Master there is Light 
and Hope. 

In the Legends and Myths of the Church man only 
sees Darkness and Eternal Torment. One is the purely 
ideal. The other inadequate and crude. The true re- 
ligion of the Master attracts men, while Dogmatic Doc- 
trines repel them. ' ' The Immanence of God, Know Thy- 
self. " Pages 116-117-118. 




rrr 

























spurious doctrines of Paganism, Cathol- 
icism and Dogmatic Theology for the true 
and original teachings of *^ Jesus The 
Master,'' who taught ^'Seek the Kingdom 
of God within you. 



? ? 



Those who wish to know more of the writer's idea 
and opinion of what kind of a Church and religion we 
should have, instead of Orthodoxy and Theology, are re- 
ferred to ''The Immanence of God," "Know Thyself," 
''God, The Soul and The Man," "The Book of Self 
(God)," "Faith (The Primary Will)," as taught by 
Jesus, "The Master," 430 Pages, of which the writer 
is the author. 

This volume has had a most remarkable sale, orders 
having been received for it from all over the world, 
from England, from Canada, from South Africa, from 
India, from British West Indies, etc., etc. This book is 
now accepted as a " Text-Book " of " The Congress of 
Ancient, Divine, Mental and Christian Masters," whicli 
grand brotherhood will encircle the globe. 























CHAPTER XX. 

More Claims and Contradictions. 

Again we will return to the Canon of the 
Bible. Bishop Erasmus, who was, during 
the Reformation, a leader among literary 
men, proclaimed that ' ' The Epistle of Paul 
The Apostle to the Hebrews'* had not been 
written by The Apostle Paul. He also at 
this time, the fifteenth century, said that 
The Revelation of St. John the Divine, The 
Second Epistle of John and The Third 
Epistle of John were never written by the 
Apostle John. Another man by the name 
of John wrote them, so he claimed. This, 
of course, might not amount to much, but 
he seemed to talk like he knew something 
about it, and he must have been looked 
upon as an authority on account of his lit- 
erary ability. He was a Roman Catholic 
and after he had made these statements he 
was attacked by the * ^ theological brains of 
Paris, ' * known as the * ' Sarbonne. * ' 

411 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

He was forthwith singled out and se- 
verely censured, being told that no matter 
if there was doubt about certain books be- 
ing genuine and thought spurious during 
the early centuries, they had since been in- 
dorsed by the church and accepted as genu- 
ine, and it was preposterous for any one 
to question them. 

Bishop Bodenstein, at the beginning of 
the 15th century, was a reformer and close 
friend to Martin Luther until enmity 
sprang up between them, when Luther be- 
came his persecutor. He separated the 
books into three different divisions. Into 
section one went the five books of Moses, 
which follow here, they being known as the 
Pentateuch or *^The Law'*: **The First 
Book of Moses, '* **The Second Book of 
Moses,'* **The Third Book of Moses," 
*^The Fourth Book of Moses,*' and ^^The 
Fifth Book of Moses." He also put into 
the first section: The Gospel according to 
St. Matthew, The Gospel according to St. 
Mark, The Gospel according to St. Luke* 

*The question may well be asked, Who was Saint 
Luke? Was he indeed a Jew? Was he not more likely 
some forging priest of Eome, who assumed the name of 
one of the Apostles of Jesus. 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 413 

and the Gospel according to St. John. 

Into the second division he put all ' ^ The 
Prophets'' (Nebiim), which comprises all 
the books of Joshua, Judges, First and 
Second Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 
twelve Minor Prophets, now in the Old 
Testament ; with these he also put thirteen 
of **The Pauline Epistles" of the New 
Testament, The First Epistle General of 
Peter, The First Epistle General of John; 
while in the third section, as having the 
smallest amount of authority, he placed 
those books contained in the last of the 
three Jewish divisions of the Old Testa- 
ment, which is known as Hagiography, and 
embraces Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, 
Ezra, Nell em. Lam, Esther, Chronicles, 
Cant, Lamentations. He also put in this 
section from the New Testament, The 
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, 
The General Epistle of James, The Second 
Epistle General of Peter, The Second 
Epistle General of John, The Third Epistle 

No one in his senses, in the present days, who has 
interested himself and studied the subject, believes that 
any one of the Apostles wrote any of the Gosepls to 
which their names have been forged, though they contain 
certain things respecting The Master Jesus. 



























Platb Vl— HEBREW MS. (txod. xx.t-5)— Written earlier«han A. D. 916. 

(British Museum, Add. MS.' 4445. > 

Portions oflhe Pentateuch. The leaf is arranged in two columns to the page, and is 

accompanied by the Massorah Magna and Parva. 




Plats VTL— SYRIAC MS. (Exod. xill. 14-16)— A. D. 464. (British Museum, Add. MS: 444ks>> 
Four books of the Pentateuch, viz.: Genesia,£sodua, Nunl> 
bars, and Deuteronomy, according to the Peshittft version. 
In the Estrangela-Syriac character. Written in the city of 
Amid, A.D. 464 : the oldest dated Biblical manuscript In ex» 
istence. From the monastery of Sf. ftliary Deipara lo this 
Nitrian Desert of Egypt 

Plate XX VTII.—EGVPTIAN GRANERY. 

r %& /''^'^M ^> A^ Scene showing the courtyard of an Egfyptian farm, in trhlch 

f ^/ «BH BK /I stand three lar^e heaps of gram, and two 

chambers for storage- 
Such chambers were usually vaulted butsotne vdth &aX- 
roofs are oflfcn shown in drawings upon the wallsofthelomba. 
Each chamber was labeled with tii«i>ame and ijuantlty o( 
grain stored in iL 











This plate shows an ancient manuscript paraded by orthodoxy. It possibly was written 
by some fanatical monk. It takes a long stretch of the imagination to connect an Egyptian 
grainery with theology, as per Plate Vll. 

414 




c^^ 













AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 415 

General of Jolin, The Book of Jude and 
The Revelation of St. John the Divine. 

It will be noticed that he rejected The 
Acts of The Apostles. Martin Luther 
claimed that the *' First Maccabees'' was 
of just as much authority as any of the 
other books. To-day it is tabooed. ^'The 
Book of Wisdom" stood well, too, with Mar- 
tin, while ^'The Book of Sirach'' had, he 
said, been written by a wise man. Of 
course, as wise men and prophets were as 
common then as tramps are nowadays, we 
should not doubt this. **The Book of 
Esther'' he did not consider Canonical. 
However, it has since been considered legit- 
imate material to put into the Canon. Mar- 
tin Luther also stated that The Epistle of 
Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews was never 
written by any Apostle and that the Apos- 
tle Paul's name was forged to it. 

He contended that it should not be in- 
cluded in the Epistles. He maintained that 
it was copied from ancient manuscripts 
(he must have Jcnoivn then, what is well 
knoivn to-day, that many of these hooks 
tvere copied from preexisting manuscripts 
and records used by the ancient Hindus), 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



and tliat there were some good things in it, 
but that it was fabulous in spots. A claim 
he was perfectly justified in making. 

Luther said that The General Epistle of 
James was an ^'Epistle of straw,'' that no 
Apostle ever wrote it; that it was not a 
good book for the Bible. The General 
Epistle of Jude was, he claimed, copied 
from The Second Epistle General of 
Peter ; compare the beginning of the Third 
Ciiapter of The General Epistle of Jude 
with the Second Chapter of The Second 
Epistle General of Peter ; they are similar. 
Luther also questioned The Eevelation of 
St. John The Divine, claiming that it had 
neither Apostolic nor Prophetic character ; 
and should be cast with The Fourth Book 
of Esdras into the stream Elbe. If they 
had all of them been thrown into the river 
Elbe with their lying doctrines of super- 
stition and ignorance our jails and bride- 
wells would have fewer inmates. 

Years later Luther declared that Eevela- 
tion was a ''dumb Prophecy'' and all who 
cared to could accept it as having been 
written by St. John the Divine, but person- 
ally he would never accept it as such, nor 



^'^^'^y^^^^^^ 






















AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 417 



he never did. The Epistle of Paul The 
Apostle to the Hebrews, The General Epis- 
tle of James, The General Epistle of Jude 
and The Revelation of St. John The Di- 
vine, he relegated to a section by them- 
selves, stamping all as questionable. 

John Calvin claimed that The Epistle of 
Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews was never 
written by the Apostle; that Peter never 
wrote The Second Epistle to which his 
name had been signed; that a student or 
disciple of his must have written it. The 
truth of the matter is, that he did not know 
who wrote it and they tvere all guessing. 

Martin Luther, and those who succeeded 
him, divided the books into two classes, 
viz., those ^'generally acknowledged genu- 
ine" and those that "were questioned or 
controverted. ' ' At Trent the council elim- 
inated this distinction between the Books 
of the Old Testament, while the followers 
of John Calvin removed it from those of 
the New Testament. 

The followers of Luther, commonly 
known as '^The Lutherans,'' also obliter- 
ated his views, that is to say all the books 
were put on a level. This was the first 



























time that all the books in the Bible were 
accepted by all the Protestants through- 
out the world, as having equal authority 
and placed on the same basis. 

In the year 1647 the council held at 
Westminster . adopted the books that are 
now in the Bibles used in the Presbyterian 
and Congregational Churches of the United 
States of America, England and Ireland; 
in fact, this list has been accepted and 
adopted by the Orthodox Church and all 
Protestants, Evangelists and teachers of 
the Gospels who make pretense to adhering 
to the letter of the Gospel. The Bible used 
in all Eoman Catholic Churches includes 
all books in the Protestant Bible and also 
the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testa- 
ment. These books used to be in the Prot- 
estant Bible but were in an appendix. Pos- 
sibly some of my readers who are getting 
quite old recollect having seen the Apoc- 
ryphal Books in those old Bibles that were 
in circulation when they were young. In 
the year 1827 the Foreign and British Bible 
Society concluded to exclude the Apocry- 
pha from the Protestant Bibles in those 
countries. After this was done the Amer- 





















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 419 

ican Bible Society decided to exclude it 
entirely from the Protestant Bibles in this 
country. 

SUMMAKY OF THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 

These books form part of the sacred 
literature held in high esteem by the Alex- 
andrian Jews, and appended by them to 
the LXX translation of the Old Testament. 
They are, 50 it is claimed, for the most 
part, if not wholly, the product of the era 
subsequent to the commencement of the 
Captivity; part having their origin in 
Babylonia, during or after the Cap- 
tivity, part belonging to the last three 
centuries B. C, when prophecy, oracles, 
and direct revelation had ceased. They 
formed the historical link between the 
Old and New Testament, and have also 
a linguistic value in connection with the 
Hellenistic phraseology of the latter. They 
differ from the former in the marked ab- 
sence of prophetic teaching, of Divine reve- 
lation and of religious poetry; while they 
point (as in the Book of Wisdom) to a 
spiritual kingdom which shall be eternal. 
(So those who pretend to know all about 























^^; 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



these hooks say.) The account there given 
of the Exodus suggests the existence of 
traditionary narratives (besides that which 
is contained in the Pentateuch), from which 
certain additions found in the New Testa- 
ment, e. g., in Stephen's speech, were de- 
rived. The LXX had been formed on a 
Hebraic mould, so that Hebraisms were 
sure to manifest themselves; but in the 
Apocrypha (much of which was originally 
written in Greek) we find the same Hebraic 
cast of thought and expression. Thus the 
Hellenistic phraseology of the New Testa- 
ment was not a new thing, even when ap- 
plied to original composition, but had be- 
come habitual. 

As to their Canonical authority, Jo- 
sephus seems to reject it. The early Chris- 
tians differed in opinion respecting them, 
but received them as part of the sacred lit- 
erature. Melito, referring to the Hebrew 
Canon, separated them from the authorita- 
tive and Divine records. Jerome called 
them * ^ apocryphal' ' (hidden, secret, and 
so spurious), affirming that *Hhe Church 
doth read them for example of life and 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 421 



instruction of manners ; but yet doth it not 
apply them to establish any doctrine.'^ 

In the Western Church they gradually 
rose in esteem, until the Council of Trent 
affirmed the Canonicity of the major part ; 
but they are treated by the more critical 
Eoman divines as ''deutero-canonical/' 

It is not generally supposed that the 
books were written by those whose names 
they bear, but rather that the names of 
men illustrious in Hebrew history, e. g., 
Ezra and Solomon, whose writings bore 
most resemblance to them, were affixed to 
them by the writers. They are valuable 
historically, as supplying us with the strug- 
gles of the Jews under the Syrian Kings, 
of which the records elsewhere are scanty. 























CHAPTEE XXL 

SUMMAKY AND CONCLUSION. 

To briefly sum everything up it can be 
readily seen that, as was stated in the first 
chapters of this work, a majority of the 
Books in the Bible of today are surely 
anonymous. Nobody really knows any- 
thing about when nor by whom they were 
written. 

They are copies, forgeries, mutilations 
and reminiscences of preexisting manu- 
scripts. Men for centuries back have been 
unable to trace the origin of the original 
records and find out who were their 
authors. We have many passages in Hindu 
and Oriental literature, such as the ''Ve- 
das" and ^'The Sacred Book of the East,'' 
which are almost identical with those in 
the English Bible and claimed to be the 
word of God. However, it is a fact, that 
no theologian, minister or priest can gain- 

422 























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 423 

say, that when these writings and books 
first began to circulate nobody considered 
them inspired or the word of God. This 
came later and is the result of an after- 
thought. 

That this idea of *' inspiration'' and 
*' faith" was used to found an ethnical re- 
ligion is no longer a question which can 
be denied. Of course the clergyman will 
roll his eyes, look both thunder and light- 
ning at the same time and think something 
a little stronger than he would care to say 
in your presence, if you were to say these 
things where his divinely charged ears 
would hear them. So thoroughly are the 
members of the clergy imbued with the 
idea that, as long as they can make an easy 
living, it is their moral duty to save souls, 
that any remark to the contrary * ' gets unto 
their nerves," so to say. 

Ministers and priests know no more 
about God or the hereafter than the most 
ignorant laborer that carries the hod, or 
the most illiterate cab driver on the street 
in Neiv York. 

They preach the Gospel with the same 
understanding that a parrot will holler 



K ij 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

*^fire," ^^fire." "When a trained parrot 
yells fire it does so because it has been 
taught to say the word *^fire,'^ but at the 
same time it has no real knowledge of the 
meaning of the word. So with a clergy- 
man, he thunders forth from the pulpit, 
*^ Believe the Bible,'' or you will be *' eter- 
nally damned,'' with just as much under- 
standing about what it really means to 
^'be damned" as the parrot knows what a 
fire means when it yells ^^fire," *^fire." 
Did any clergyman ever see a soul after 
it was damned? Can they describe the 
process? Can they pkove that they ake 

JUSTIFIED IN MAKING THIS HOKKIBLE THKEAT, 
OE THAT IT IS BASED ON ANYTHING BUT A 
SPUKIOUS DOCTKINE AND FOKGED SCKIPTUKES? 

The Church today claims more for the 
Bible, as far as its being inspired is con- 
cerned, than the men did who wrote the 
books that are in it; even more than did 
the early Christian Fathers, even more 
than did Jesus. Why? Answer. Money. 
Once let the faithful congregations stop 
clinking the coin into the contribution box, 
or write checks to pay pew rent and the 
ministers, and priests would leave their 











1 

i 














AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 425 

congregations as quickly as rats desert a 
doomed ship. Very little would they care 
how many souls were damned, after the 
regular collections ceased. 



History shows that when these books, 
which clergymen preach the so-called Gos- 
pel from, first circulated and come into use, 
nobody claimed that they ivere inspired or 
the works of God. 

There are a number of Books of Eeve- 
lation. Epistles and Gospels which used to 
be read in the churches but now they are 
unheard of. For over two hundred years 
these books were in use and were simply 
looked upon as ''The Law'' (Torah) by 
the ancient Jew, that is a sort of a code or 
guide for one's moral conduct until the 
Eoman Catholic Church, then forming felt 
the need of something that would give it 
authority and influence among the masses. 
This church, which has since become the 
strongest denomination, as far as money 
is concerned, in the world, then originated 
the idea that particular books and Gospels 
were inspired. How well the churches of 













rir~t 








tlie world have kept the people hypnotized 
with this idea needs no description here. 
The church at that time claimed inspiration 
for certain books which Christian Councils 
have since decided were not inspired. The 
fathers rejected and disputed many books 
which the church has since claimed are im- 
pregnated with divine inspiration. 

This kind of a doctrine even from a 
church is mighty illogical and some day 
orthodoxy and theology will perish of im- 
becility. He who honestly investigates the 
History of the church will find that its 
record is not immaculate. The fierce con- 
tentions and controversies between denom- 
inations and sects, as shown in a previous 
chapter in this work, convinced the Fathers 
that the Church could never become a unit 
and agree about the old original Gospels 
which first come into use. These were then 
laid aside and the Four Gospels of St. 
Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John 
supplanted them. Now right here it must 
be admitted that these primitive Fathers 
and ambitious Bishops were not to be 
sneezed at when it came to fashioning a 
religion that would fascinate its disciples. 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 427 

That they were most trenchant and shrewd 
on this point is true. 

Here is just exactly what these sagacious 
Christians did. They knew that these 
Gospels would be more authoritative and 
ex cathedra, besides giving them the (ec- 
clesiastic's), sacerdotal, imperious and dic- 
tatorial powers, if the names of those men 
(Christ's disciples), who had been asso- 
ciated with The Master Jesus, was forged 
to them. It will be well for the reader to 
recollect that historians tell us that mutila- 
tion of manuscripts, literary theft and 
forgery, tvere not in those times looked 
upon as being anything unusual or a crime. 

These early Christians in stating that 
the Gospels were inspired was not directed 
or guided by intelligence, nor extraor- 
dinary ability. The guiding power that 
founded theology ivas deceit, and ambition 
linked to ignoraiice, stupidity and supersti- 
tion. These men were not noted scholars 
of great literary, or critical ability; they 
were just the reverse, being disgustingly 
credulous, and of a low grade of intelli- 
gence. It is always difficult to deal with a 
superstitious or an ignorant individual. 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



nothing is ever satisfactory to him; so it 
was with these men; they always failed to 
agree on just what books should go into 
the Bible. Then Christian Councils at- 
tempted to decide the matter and for al- 
most twelve hundred years they jangled 
over it, and were most inharmonious, as 
we have seen. To end the controversy the 
Eoman Catholic Church took the bull by 
the horns, and at the council of Trent, it, 
together with the Greek Christian Church 
at its council at Constantinople, settled the 
question by deciding what books should be 
used in the churches affiliated with them. 
The Protestants had their English Bible 
dictated- to them by the Westminster As- 
sembly Many people suppose that the 
Bible in circulation today is quite old, dat- 
ing back into the early centuries; such, 
however, is not the case; for as it stands 
today it is only a little over three hundred 
years old. Previous to the Eoman and 
Greek Churches laying down an unalter- 
able law, which is still in force, the idea as 
to just what books should compose the 
Bible and what should be counted spurious 
and rejected, was vague and indefinite, in 
























AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 429 

the minds of the Bishops and those claim- 
ing to have Sacerdotal powers. Among the 
divines, who were on the ground, and didn 't 
know what books were inspired and what 
was spurious, as late as the middle of the 
fourth century, was Eusebius, the famous 
author of ^^ Eusebius' Ecclesiastical His- 
tory/' and Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem, 
noted divine of the Eastern Church, 356 
A. D. Eusebius was also a Bishop of this 
church. Now the question is, if these men 
could not decide whether the books and 
Gospels were inspired, what right have 
men, now in the ministry, and who 
would better be in commercial life, for all 
the real good they do the people, only to 
assist the suffering and toiling masses ' ^ to 
be fleeced' ' by the iniquitous system, which 
denies to mankind the fruits of its toil, 
to be so almighty sure about the Scrip- 
tures being of divine authority; inspired, 
and the word of God? 















mn 












PAET FOUR. 
CHAPTER XXII. 

Some Things Concekning Priests and 
Catholicism as Related in ' ' The Secret 
History of the Oxford Movement/' by 
Walter Walsh. 

Father Faber. When he commenced his 
work at Elton, as Rector, he determined, 
says his biographer, *Ho model his pas- 
toral operations on the system pursued by 
the [Roman] Catholic Church, and to work 
his parish, as he expressed it, ^in the 
Spirit of St. Philip and St. Alphonso.' ''^ 
No doubt these two *^ Saints'' were ^^St." 
Philip Neri, founder of the Oratorian Or- 
der, of which Faber subsequently became 
a member; and *'St.'' Alphonsus Liguori, 
author of the Glories of Mary. Faber cir- 
culated amongst his parishioners a His- 

^Bowden's Life of Faber, p. 179. 

430 







m'"^ 














AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 431 



tory of the Sacred Heart,^ in which he 
advocated the adoration of the material 
heart of onr Lord — a modern custom in- 
vented by the Jesuits. His biographer has 
to admit of this practice that it cannot ''be 
said that it belongs to the genuine spirit 
of the Established Church. ' ' After he had 
been at Elton about six months, Faber 
found that it was not so easy as he ex- 
pected to pervert his parishioners to his 
Romanizing views. On March 24th, 1844, 
he wrote to a friend: — '*I feel impatient, 
thinking I could do all things in my parish 
as if I ivere a Roman '^ After a time, a 
measure of success attended his efforts, 
and he was able to start in his parish the 
Religious Community to which I have al- 
ready alluded. The mystery and secrecy 
with which Faber shrouded this Commun- 
ity cannot be better described than in the 
words of Father Bowden: — 



"A number of persons, chiefly young men, be- 
gan," writes Faber's biographer, "to go to confes- 
sion to him, and to receive Communion. Out of 
the most promising of these penitents he formed 

" Ibid., p. 180. 













CTTr 















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



a sort of Community. They were accustomed to 
meet in the Rectory every night at twelve o'cloch, 
and to spend about an hour in prayer, chiefly in 
reciting portions of the Psalter. On the eves ' 
of great feasts, the devotions were prolonged for 
three or four hours. The use of the Discipline 
was also introduced on Fridays, eves of festivals, 
and every night in Lent, each talcing his turn to 
receive it from the others." ^ 

It may be well to explain here, for the 
benefit of the Protestant reader, who may 
be pardoned for want of information on 
the subject, that the ^ ^ Discipline ' * secretly 
used by the fanatics at Elton, is a kind of 
cat-o'-nine tails, knotted, and made with 
either cord or steel, with which each peni- 
tent is whipped on the bare back, either by 
himself or another, as a penance for his 
sins. Very early in his career the late 
Dr. Pnsey seems to have fallen in love 
with this form of Eomish superstition; 
but his early regard for it remained con- 
cealed from the public gaze, until the pub- 
lication of the Memoirs of James Robert 
Hope-Scott, in 1884, when a letter from 
Dr. Pusey to Mr. Hope-Scott, dated Sep- 
tember 9th, 1844, first saw the light of day. 

« Ihid,, p. 183. 










AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 433 










mr 






The latter was travelling abroad at the 
time he received this letter, which con- 
tained two or three commissions for him 
to execute while on the continent. One of 
these was to purchase a number of Eoman 
Catholic books, for Dr. Pusey's use; the 
second, to collect information concerning 
''the system as to Ketreats'^ amongst 
Eoman Catholics; and the third, was to 
purchase a specimen " Discipline. '^ The 
latter commission was put into the post- 
script of his letter, and was as follows : — 

"There is yet a subject on which I should like 
to know more : if yon fall in with persons who 
have the guidance of consciences, — what penances 
they employ for persons whose temptations are 
almost entirely spiritual, of delicate frames often, 
and who wish to be led on to perfection. I see 
in a spiritual writer that even for such, corporal 
severities are not to be neglected, but so many 
of them are unsafe. I suspect the 'Discipline' to 
he one of the safest, and with internal humilia- 
tion, the best. Could you procure and send me 
one by B. ? What was described to me was of a 
very sacred character; 5 cords, each with five knots, 
in memory of the 5 wounds of our Lord. I should 
be glad also to know whether there were any cases 
in which it is unsafe, e. g., in a nervous person."* 

* Memoirs of J. Eope-Scott, Vol. II., pp. 52-53. 



















One cannot help wondering, if a cat-o'- 
nine tails, or rather of five, with five cords, 
was not thought too severe for persons of 
^^ delicate frames,^' what would be the pen- 
ance inflicted on those who possessed 
strong constitutions I 

About two years after his letter to Mr. 
James Hope-Scott, Dr. Pusey appears to 
have commenced the use of ^^Hair Cloth" 
and ^^Disciplines." On the ^^ Feast of St. 
Simon and St. Jude," 1846, he wrote to 
the Rev. J. Keble, who at about that period 
became his Father Confessor, — **Will you 
give me some penitential rules for myself? 
I hardly know what I can do, just now, in 
a bodily way, for nourishment I am or- 
dered; sleep I must take when it comes; 
cold is bad for me ; and I know not whether 
I am strong enough to resume the Hair 
Cloth. However, I hope to try."^ The 
word ** resume" in this letter proves that 
Pusey had used ^*Hair Cloth" before the 
date of his letter ; but for how long I can- 
not tell. Later on in the same year he 
wrote again to Keble : — 

" Life of Br, Pusey, Vol. III., p. 99. 



rrr 







•^ 

















^'I am a great coward about inflicting pain on 
myself, partly, I hope, from a derangement of my 
nervous system. Hair Cloth I know not how to make 
pain: it is only symbolical, except, when w^orn to 
an extent which seemed to wear me out. / have 
it on again, hy God's mercy. I would try to get 
some sharper sort. Lying hard I like best, unless 
it is such as to take away sleep, and that seems 
to unfit me for duties. Real fasting, {. e., going 
without food, was very little discomfort, except in 
the head, when the hour of the meal was over, 
and Dr. Wootten said and says, ^It was shortening 
my life.' Praying with my arms in the form of 
a cross seemed to distract me, and act upon my 
head from this same miserable nervousness. I 
think I should like to he hid [i. e., by Keble as 
his Father Confessor] to use the Discipline. I 
cannot even smite upon my breast much because 
the pressure on my lungs seemed bad. In short, 
you see, I am a mass of infirmities.''^ 

DE. PUSEY WEAES HAIE CLOTH. 

This is, indeed, a most pitiful letter, and 
one to be wondered at. Instead of saying 
that he was wearing Hair Cloth again, 
**by God's mercy,'' it would have been 
more accurate to have said that he was 
wearing it through his own folly and 
superstition. He certainly could not plead 
either Scriptural or Church of England 

~« lUd., p. 100. 







9» 









^^§^ 













nm 








GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



authority for the practice. One might 
make some excuse for Dr. Pusey on the 
score of his then enfeebled state of health, 
were it not that when he regained his ordi- 
nary health there is no evidence to show 
that he gave up the use of either Hair 
Cloth, or the Discipline. On the contrary, 
in his Manual for Confessors, published in 
1878, he recommends both as penances for 
sinners. His biographer informs us that 
*^with Keble's sanction '' Pusey made it a 
rule ^Ho wear Hair Cloth always by day, 
unless ilP'; and that ^'he was very anxious 
to use Hhe Discipline' every night with 
Psalm li. Keble did not advise it. Pusey 
entreated. 'I still scruple,' wrote Keble, 
* about the Discipline. I could but allow, 
not enjoin it to any one.' ''^ 

The use of the ^ ^ Discipline, " and of 
other penitential ^* articles of piety,'' as 
they are sometimes termed, is, almost of 
necessity, kept secret by those who adopt 
them. Some idea, however, of the extent 
to which these articles of torture are used 
at the present time within the Church of 

' Life of Dr. Fusey, Vol. III., pp. 104, 108. 







^"^ 




m 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



England may be gained from the follow- 
ing article, which appeared in the West- 
minster Gazette, of September 9th, 1896 — 
a paper which cannot be accused of any 
undue partiality for Protestantism: — 

"John Kensit, ^the Protestant Bookseller/ has 
given Paternoster Row a new sensation this week. 
For some days past a large part of his window has 
been used for the exhibition of a large sheet 
displaying half a dozen ^instruments of torture' 
said to be used and recommended by 'Members 
of the Church of England/ 

"Whoever they are used by — and it is pretty 
certain they are not mere ornaments or playthings 
— these ^instruments of torture' by no means belie 
the name Mr. Kensit has bestowed upon them. 
Take that broad stomacher of horse-hair, for 
example, and place it next to the skin; imagine 
the discomfort of the first five minutes as each 
bristly hair presses against the body, and picture 
the torture of each succeeding five minutes it is 
worn. Then turn from this mild ^Discipline' to 
the severer penance of the Barbed Heart. This is 
a maze of wire, the size of the palm of one's 
hand, upon one side of which barbs project, finer 
than the ends of the barbed fences of our fields. 
How many of these are pressing to-day against 
lacerated breasts? Of similar construction, and 
equally fiendish in purpose, are the Wristlets and 
Anklets and the broad band of netted barbs which 
the penitent fastens around his or her leg. All of 
these may possibly be worn under conditions which 























will mitigate the severity of the torture ; but there 
would seem to be no way of softening the lash 
when applied to the bare skin, so what can be said 
of the two Scourges exhibited by Mr. Kensit ? One 
is of hard knotted ropes, half a dozen ends attached 
to a pliant handle; the other is of well-hardened 
and polished steel, each end of the five chains 
neatly finished with a steel rowel. Every blow 
from this, when the penitent swings it over his 
shoulder upon his bare back, must produce five 
wounds, bruises, or sores. No wonder the crowd 
gazes incredulously until ordered to ^move on.^ 

"Since this queer little exhibition opened, the 
bookseller has stood a running fire of questions 
and expostulation. The instruments had not been 
on view an hour before a gentleman entered the 
shop and delivered himself after this fashion: — 

" 'Look here, sir, whoever you are, if you're the 
proprietor of this place take those things out of 
your window. It's a lie. It never could be done. 
I believe it's just one of your advertising dodges. 
I won't believe that those things were ever made 
to be used in this day.' 

"Mr. Kent is accustomed to that sort of salu- 
tation, so he waited till his visitor had ended a 
long tirade, and then quietly remarked : — 

" 'Will you take the trouble to go into the 
shop next door and ask the shopman to show you 
a selection of these things? Ask him [a Roman 
Catholic publisher] to name his price, and let 
him tell you who buys them. Then you can come 
back and apologize to me.' 

" 'The gentleman,' said Mr. Kensit, when he 
told a representative the story on Monday, 'went 



















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 439 

into the shop next door. In five minutes he was 
back again with a bundle under his arm. ^Mr. 
Kensit/ he said, 'you're right. They sell them, 
and I've bought a few to take home and show to 
my family. They'll never believe it unless I do.' 

"'Well/ said Mr. Kensit, 'did you ask who 
purchases them ?' 

" 'I did,' said the gentleman, 'and if you'll 
believe me the shopman said that for every one 
he sold to a Catholic he sold three to Church of 
England people!' 

" 'I not onlv believe it,' said Mr. Kensit, 'but I 
know it.' " 

There is certainly, as I have already 
said, no Scriptural authority for the use 
of the ^ ^ Discipline. ' ^ We do read that 
*^By His stripes we are healed'^ (Isa. liii. 
5) ; but never that we are spiritually 
healed by the stripes and bruises inflicted 
by ourselves. How far the use of the 
*^ Discipline'^ has spread amongst Eitual- 
ists at the present day is one of those 
secrets which have not been fully revealed. 
Yet there is reason to fear that it is on the 
increase, and is much more widespread 
than is generally supposed. There is 
cause to believe that in some Ritualistic 
Convents the ^^ Discipline'' is not un- 
known. Dr. Pusey, as is well known, in 














^^ 






h — n 










GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

conjunction with the late Miss Sellon, 
founded several Convents, and retained 
spiritual authority over them until his 
death. In his Advice on Hearing Con- 
fession, for the use of Eitualistic Father 
Confessors, directions are given as to the 
penances to be imposed by the Confessor 
on Eitualistic Sisters of Mercy. One of 
these, if ^ ^ the Superior of the Convent ap- 
proves, '' is as follows: — ^^For mortifica- 
tions; the Discipline for about a quarter 
of an hour a day. ' '^ It may here be asked, 
if a Sister refused to undergo this severe 
and cruel penance, would she be consid- 
ered as having broken her Vow of Obedi- 
ence! The answer to this question is 
given by Dr. Pusey himself. His advice 
to Sisters of Mercy is : — ^ ^ Study to be per- 
fectly obedient to your spiritual father. 
Now perfect obedience implies 
prompt, punctual, willing, unquestioning 
obedience, unless the thing commanded be 
evident sin.'^^ There can be no doubt, 
therefore, that the Sister would feel it a 
bounden duty to take the ^^ Discipline for 

® Pusey's Manual for Confessors, p. 243. 
^ lUd., p. 245. 



















about a quarter of an hour a day,'' if or- 
dered to do so by her *' Spiritual father/' 
the Confessor. The subject is not a pleas- 
ant one to those who hate cruelty; but it 
is of so secret a character that it seems 
almost impossible to discover the priestly 
culprits who order English ladies to be 
thus whipped on their bare backs, as they 
may think right and proper. One of these 
cases has fortunately come to light, in 
which the Discipline was used most cruelly 
and shamefully in a Kitualistic Convent, 
inflicted on the Sister, not by command of 
her Confessor, but by a ^* Mother" of the 
Convent. The story is related by Miss 
Povey, who, as ^* Sister Mary Agnes, 
O.S.B.," was for seventeen years a Nun 
in Convents controlled by the notorious 
^'Father Ignatius." She writes: — 

"One day I was coming from Nones at 2.45 
p. M. This *^Mother' ['Mary Wereburgh of the 
Blessed Sacrament'] commanded me to stay where 
I was, and not return to work, and then said : 
*You have got the Devil in you, and I'm going to 
beat him out.' All left the sacristy but myself, 
the Mother Superior, and one Xun, who was 
ordered to be present at the casting out of the 
devil. I was commanded first to strip. I saw 




















rrm 








442 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

'the Discipline,' with its seven lashes of knotted 
whipcord in her hand, and I knew that one lash 
given (or taken by oneself) was in reality seven. 
I should mention that at certain times it was the 
rule to Discipline oneself. . . . Then I began 
to undress; bnt when I came to my vest, shame 
again overcame me. ^Take that thing off/ said 
the Mother Superior. I replied, T cannot, rever- 
end Mother; it's too tight.' The N'un who was 
present was told to help me to get it off. A deep 
feeling of shame came over me at being half -nude. 
The Mother then ordered the Nun to say the 'Mis- 
erere,' and while it was recited she lashed me sev- 
eral times with all her strength. I w^as deter- 
mined not to utter a sound, but at last I could not 
restrain a smothered groan, whereat she gave me 
one last and cruel lash, and then ceased. Even 
three weeks after she had ^Disciplined' me, I had 
a very sore back, and it hurt me greatly to lie 
on it (our beds were straw put into sacks). There 
was a looking-glass in the room I now occupied 
(Nuns do not usually have them), and I looked 
to see if my back was marked, as it was so sore. 
Never shall I forget the shock it gave me. I 
turned quickly away, for my hack was hlaclc, blue 
and green all over." 

Many of my readers, on reading this 
horrible yet true story, will naturally ask 
themselves, are there any other Mothers 
Superior who act in a similar manner? If 

^° Nunnery Life in the CJiurcJi of England, by Sister 
Mary Agnes, O.S.B., pp. 97-99. 








m 









AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 











the secrets of Convents were revealed, how 
many more tales of ** Discipline'' cruelty 
should we hear? We need not make rash 
and wholesale assertions, but is there not 
cause for inquiry and anxiety? 

Faber, to whom we once more return, 
not only used the *' Discipline'' himself; 
he also, as a penance, wore *^a thick horse- 
hair cord tied in knots round his waist. "^^ 
He still, however, continued to act as Rec- 
tor of Elton. On August 12th, 1844, he 
informed Newman: — ''I seem to grow 
more Roman daily, and almost to write 
from out the bosom of the Roman Church, 
instead of from where I am."^^ gy j)^. 
cember he made the discovery — which he 
ought to have made long before — that his 
position in the Church of England was a 
dishonest one. **I feel as if I was living 
a dishonest life,"^^ he wrote to Newman. 
And yet, strange as it may seem to some, 
with this conviction upon him he continued 
for nearly another year to officiate in the 
Church of England. 



" Life of Faber, p. 178. 
" Life of Faber, p. 187. 
'Ubid., p. 189. 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

The reader's attention is called to the 
fact that in his Manual for Confessors Dr. 
Pusey recommends as a mortification for 
Sisters of Mercy ' * The Discipline for about 
a quarter of an hour a day" — that is, the 
use of cat-o'-nine tails on the Sister's bare 
back for that period! Instead of being 
heartily ashamed of such cruel advice the 
Church Revieiv says not one word against 
it. **If,'' it writes, ^'Eitualists are more 
ascetic than Komanists, provided they do 
not injure their health, and the health and 
comfort of others, what harm is done?" 
What harm is done by the Discipline! 
What a question to ask! I wonder the 
Church Review is not heartily ashamed of 
asking it. Instead of this it actually de- 
clares that ^^to scourge a woman" is ^^a 

PUNISHMENT SANCTIONED IN THE BiBLE BY 

God Himself!" Hear that, ye people of 
England, and do not forget it! My critic 
refers me to Leviticus, chap, xix., in proof. 
I turn to it and read: — 

"And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, 
that is a bond-maid, betrothed to an husband, 
and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, 
she shall be scourged." 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 445 

Does the Church Revieiv imply by its 
assertion that this sin is committed in 
Eitualistic Convents, and therefore that 
the guilty one should be *' scourged'' with 
a ** Discipline for about a quarter of an 
hour a dayf Are there ^'bond-maids" 
in these Convents, who deserve that such 
a punishment should be inflicted upon 
them? And is the Levitical law binding 
on Christians? It is true that the Church 
Revieiv says: — ''We are not advocating 
such treatment of women," but it takes 
care not to say one word against the use 
of the cruel "Discipline." 

It tries, however, to get out of the diffi- 
culty in another way. "Mr. Walsh," it 
remarks, "does not tell his readers that 
what he calls Dr. Pusey's 'Advice on 
Hearing Confession' is not his 'advice,' 
but a translation by somebody else of the 
Eoman Catholic Abbe Gaume's manual on 
the subject, which Dr. Pusey prefaced and 
published." Why should I tell my read- 
ers that it was not his advice, when it 
really was his? It was his by adoption. 
He states on the title-page that it is 
"Adapted to the Use of the English 












GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 








g^^ 




Church," and he pleads in the preface 
that he has omitted from it everything in 
the original contrary, in his opinion, to 
the teaching of the Chnrch of England. 
If I adopt another man's *^ advice," I 
make it my own. It is pitiful to see what 
straits the Church Revietu is driven to to 
get out of an awkward difficulty. 

One remarkable feature of the Church 
Review's criticisms is the number of 
charges brought against myself which are 
utterly without foundation. I am charged, 
for instance, with making my readers ^ ^ un- 
derstand that the Eitualists are in some 
way responsible for, or are mixed up in" 
the work of the Order of Corporate Re- 
union. Now, as a matter of fact, I did 
nothing of the kind. On the contrary, I 
expressly stated (Secret History, p. 110) 
that ^^The schemes of the Order of Cor- 
porate Reunion did not receive the ap- 
proval of the great majority of the Ritual- 
istic party," and that ^^even the secret 
Society of the Holy Cross has taken up 
arms against the Order of Corporate Re- 
union." The Church Review, being ut- 
terly unable to prove that I have made 

















m 







AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 447 

a single misstatement, finds it necessary 
to charge me with offences which are the 
product solely of its own imagination. 
Again, it charges me, in common with 
others, with persisting in *^ foully slander- 
ing some of the purest women in England 
who go to Confession." I should be very 
sorry to slander any pure-minded woman, 
or anybody else, and I ask in astonish- 
ment when and where have I done so? 
There is nothing of the kind in my book, 
and the Church Revietv produces no evi- 
dence in support of its charge. The same 
charge, in different words, is brought out 
in another part of the criticisms, where 
my critic says ; — 

'^"We have now, we think, printed enough in 
refutation of the cowardl}^, wicked, scandalous 
insinuations and charges made against priests and 
penitents, to the effect that the former pollute, 
and the latter submit to have their minds polluted, 
in the Confessional." 

What it has ^ Sprinted'' is a few of the 
cautions given in The Priest in Absolution 
as to care, in questioning the penitent, not 
to impart any knowledge of sin. Every 
























448 GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

one, who has read the book, knows that 
snch cautions are given, and certainly are 
very much needed. They are to be found 
not only in The Priest in Ahsohition, but 
also in Dr. Pusey's Manual for Confes- 
sors, and in my book I have printed sev- 
eral such cautions, which the Church Re- 
vieiv would not like to reproduce in its 
columns. Such, for example, as the fol- 
lowing : — 

"Nothing more shows the fearfulness of Satanic 
devices than that it is possible that a Sacrament 
which was instituted to drive forth from Souls, 
sin and the Devil, and make them temples of the 
Holy Ghost, may he profaned hy abusers of its 
ministrations to the grossest iniquity'' (Priest in 
Absolution, Part IL, p. 77). 

Could any Protestant say anything 
stronger than this? The Ritualistic Con- 
fessional may be profaned to ^^the gross- 
est iniquity 'M And the unpleasant truth 
for the Church Review is that I have 
proved that it has already been so used. 
The Church Review cannot be ignorant of 
a very abominable instance of the kind 
which took place a short distance from the 
Convent with which it boasts a connection 



























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 449 

extending over thirty years. The Convent 
and its authorities had nothing to do with 
the case; but would the Church Review 
like the private evidence given in the case 
to be published on the house-tops? And 
what are we to say about Dr. Pusey's testi- 
mony! which, if it had been given by my- 
self, would have been denounced by the 
Church Revieiv as ^'cowardly, wicked, 
scandalous insinuations and charges made 
against priests/' This is what Dr. Pusey 
wrote, adopting it as his own from the 
Abbe Gaume, as suitable for the guidance 
of Eitualistic Father Confessors: — 

"It is a sad sight to see confessors giving their 
whole morning to young women devotees, while 
they dismiss men or married women, who have, 
perhaps, left their household affairs with some 
difficulty, to find themselves rejected with *I am 
busy; go to some one else'" (Pusey^s Manual for 
Confessors, p. 108). 

No doubt Dr. Pusey knew very well 
what need there was for advice of this 
kind, and also for telling the Ritualistic 
Confessor that he might pervert the Con- 
fessional ^Mnto a subtle means of feeding 
evil passions and sin in your own mind'' 


























450 GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



(p. 102); and make himself therein '^the 
cause for temptation to others, thereby 
proving yourself no spiritual father, but 
rather a ravening wolf; no minister of 
God, hut of the devil; no physician, but 
the murderer of souls'^ (p. 99). Under 
such circumstances I do not wonder that 
Dr. Pusey had to make the following awful 
acknowledgment : — 

"Be assured that this is one of the gravest faults 
of 0U7' oiun day in the administration of the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, that it is the road by which a 
number of Christians go down to helV (p. 315). 

My advice to any Eitualist who may 
read this article is, if you do not want to 
*^go down to hell," keep out of ''the road" 
to it. One would suppose, to read the 
Church Review and the statements of in- 
terested Father Confessors, that such 
awful things could never result from the 
use of the Eitualistic Confessional. That 
organ of the Eomanizers terms those 
Protestants who protest against the evils 
of the Confessional ''prurient cowards," 
and asserts that "they lie, and that know- 
ingly." But was Dr. Pusey also amongst 








^^ 











AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 451 

the ^ 'liars'^? Or the editor of The Priest 
in Absolution f It is said that Protestants 
who never go to confession are not quali- 
fied to give an opinion on this subject. 
But that can hardly be said of Dr. Pusey 
and the Eev. J. C. Chambers, both Kitual- 
istic Confessors of many years' experi- 
ence. The Church Revieiv treats me as 
though, in my book, I had desired to make 
out every Eitualistic Father Confessor a 
villain, and every woman who goes to con- 
fession a depraved character. I have done 
nothing of the kind, and I should be very 
sorry to do so. A penitent need not say 
anything about sins of which he or she is 
not guilty. But I do assert that private 
conversations in the Confessional on sins 
against the seventh commandment are 
abominations which ought not to be toler- 
ated, and that in The Priest in Absolution 
certain questions are suggested, to be 
asked from wives, under certain circum- 
stances, which if they were known to their 
husbands, would make their blood boil 
with just indignation. If I were to chal- 
lenge the Church Review to meet me on 
a public platform, in an audience of men 














^^■""A^^ 













only, and argne the matter out, I have no 
doubt as to the verdict of the majority. 
No doubt it would be said, in pious hor- 
ror, that modesty forbids this, even be- 
tween persons of the same sex. But, if 
so, how much more should modesty forbid 
these things to be talked about at their 
discretion — or want of discretion — be- 
tween priests in the Confessional and our 
wives, sisters, and daughters? 

THE CONFESSOR AS A FOX. 

"The most responsible office of the priest of 
God/' writes Father Augustine Wirth, O.S.B., "is 
the hearing of confessions ... in the pulpit 
he can touch certain sins only with kid gloves, 
in the Confessional he probes the sores to the 
very bottom. In the pulpit he must be a lion, 
in the Confessional a Fox/'^"^ 

NEWMAN WRITES AGAINST POPERY. 

Extracts as cited by Newman, in his 
famous letter to the Oxford Conservative 
Journal, January, 1843. In the Lyra 
Apostolica, published in 1833, he declared 



" The Confessional, adapted by the Eev. Augustus 
Wirth, O.S.B., p. v. Fourth edition. PubUshed at Eliza- 
beth, New Jersey, 1882. 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 453 

that the Church of Rome was a *'lost 
Church. ' ' At page 421 of the first edition 
of his work on the Arians of the Fourth 
Century, he wrote of ''the Papal Apos- 
tacy '^ In No. 15 of Tracts for the Times, 
in 1833, he wrote: — 

"True, Rome is heretical now. ... If she 
has apostatized, it was at the time of the Council 
of Trent. Then, indeed, it is to be feared the 
whole Roman Communion bound itself, by a per- 
petual bond and covenant, to the cause of Anti- 
Christ '' 

Again, in the same year he wrote, in 

Tract 20. 

"Their [Papists'] communion is infected with 
heresy; we are bound to flee it as a pestilence. 
They have established a lie in the place of God's 
truth, and by their claim of immutability in doc- 
trine, cannot undo the sin they have committed." 

In 1834 Newman affirmed that: — 

"In the corrupt Papal system we have the very 
cruelty, the craft, and the ambition of the repub- 
lic ; its cruelty in its unsparing sacrifice of the 
happiness and virtue of individuals to a phantom 
of public expedienc}', in its forced celibacy within, 
and its persecutions without; its craft in its false- 
hoods, its deceitful deeds and lying wonders; and 
its grasping ambition in the very structure of its 
policy, in its assumption of universal dominion; 




























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



old Rome is still alive; nowhere have its eagles 
lighted, but it still claims the sovereignty under 
another pretense. The Roman Church I will not 
blame, but pity — she is, as I have said, spell-bound, 
as if by an evil spirit; she is in thraldom." 

In the same year, in No. 38 of Tracts for 
the Times, Newman termed the Church of 
Eome ^^unscriptural/' ^^ profane," * im- 
pious," ^* blasphemous,'^ '^ gross,'' and 
*^ monstrous " In the year 1838, in his 
lectures on Romanism and Popular Pro- 
testantism, he said of the Church of 
Rome : — 



"In truth she is a Church beside herself, abound- 
ing in noble gifts and rightful titles, but unable 
to use them religiously; crafty, obstinate, wilful, 
malicious, cruel, unnatural, as madmen are. Or, 
rather, she may be said to resemble a demoniac, 
possessed with principles, thoughts, and tendencies 
not her own. . . . Thus she is her real self 
only in name, and till God vouchsafe to restore her, 
we must treat her as if she were that evil one 
v/hich governs her." 

What Protestant could utter abuse of 
Popery more fierce than is contained in 
the above extracts from Newman's own 
words. — Newman's Letters, Vol. 11, p. 153. 



It 








I 








(This shows the hatred the Catholic church has 
for the Protestant.) 

"He forgets what has been humorously pointed 
out, that the first Protestant of all was the Devil. 
. . . Just as the first Non-Catholic and Anti- 
Eitualist was Judas." — The Congregation in 
Church, p. 78. New edition. London : Mowbray. 

"Heretic means a choice, and it is not always 
perceived that heretic and a Protestant are much 
the same thing." — Ibid., p. 187. 

"Protestants can be shown to detest Jesus Christ 
and His teaching, and to prefer immorality, 
polemics, and cant thereto." — Brainless, Broadcast 
Benevolence, p. 17. Brighton : H. and C. Treacher. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL. 

{This shows how the Protestants fear the 
advances of the Roman church.) 

"The Protestant is quite right in recognizing 
the simplest attempt at Eitual as the ^thin end 
of the wedge.' It is so. . . . It is only the 
child who is not terrified when the first creeping 
driblet of water and the few light bubbles an- 
nounce the advance of the tide, and the Protestant 
is but a child who does not recognize the danger 
of the trifling symptoms which are slowly and 
surely contracting the space of ground upon which 
he stands." — Church Revieiu, June 24th, 1865, p. 
587. 

"The Eitual question is one which, you will 
agree with me, is of great importance. To abolish 
Scriptural and Catholic Eitual, and at the same 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



time to hope to maintain unimpaired the Catholic 
Faith, is, in my humble opinion, a great delusion. 
They both go together; and if one falls, both 
will fall. . . . With the abolition of the sym- 
bolic ornamenta of the Church, doctrinal loss will 
be the result; and the great Movement now going 
on will become stationary, and will gradually 
cease.^' — The President of the English Church 
Union — Church Review, April 25th, 1868, p. 402. 
"Nor, again, are we merely contending for the 
revival among ourselves of certain ceremonies 
because they are practiced by the rest of the 
Catholic Church ; but we contend for our Ritual 
for the precise reason which is urged for its sup- 
pression — because it is the means, the importance 
of which becomes clearer every day, which the 
Church has seen fit to employ to express the truth 
of Christ's Sacramental Presence amongst His 
people." — The President of the English Church 
Union — Church Review, June 20th, 1868, p. 583. 

THIS PRIEST SAYS GOD SITS ON THE ALTAK. 

"Now, there are, of course, many Catholic prac- 
tices that necessarily result from a belief in the 
Real Presence of our dear Lord upon the Altar. 
Among the minor ones are bowing and genuflect- 
ing. Bowing to the Altar at all times, not because 
it is so much wood or stone put together in a cer- 
tain shape, covered with handsome cloths, decked 
with flowers and lights; not for this, were it all 
ten times as gorgeous. Not for this, but because 
the Altar is the Throne of God Incarnate, where 
daily now, thank God, in many a church in the 
land He deigns to rest. . . . And genuflect- 














a 







AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 

ing, not to the Altar, but to the ^Gift that is upon 
if; to the God-Man, Christ Jesus, when He is 
there/^ — Six Plain Sermons, by Richard Wilkins, 
Priest, p. 57. London: E. Longhurst. 



DISSENT. 

[We are told here that the Holy Ghost goes 
visiting and makes formal calls. So much for 
superstition and ignorance which would make a 
south sea islander quit the game. — The Author.] 

"Nevertheless, although not actually schism, it 
is schismatical to attend Dissenting Meeting 
Houses, or to subscribe to, or assist the sectarian 
objects of Dissenters in any wa}^ The same can- 
not be said of Roman Catholic Churches, and 
their objects, because the Roman Catholics are a 
branch of the true Church." — The Congregation in 
Church, p. 202. New Edition. London: Mow- 
bray. 

"The Catholic Church is the home of the Holy 
Ghost. It is His only earthly home. He does 
not make His home in any Dissenting sect. Some- 
times people quarrel with the Church, and break 
away from her, and make little sham churches of 
their own. We call these people Dissenters, and 
their sham churches sects. The Holy Ghost does 
not abide — does not dwell — with them. He goes 
and visits them perhaps, but only as a stranger." — 
A Booh for the Children of God, p. 77. London : 
W. Knott, 1891. 

"The Bible is the Book which God has given to 
His Church, and it belongs to the Church alone, 
and not to any Dissenting sect. No one but a 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 

Catholic can safely read the Bible, and no Catholic 
can read it safely who does not read it in the 
Church's way." — Ihid.^ p. 100. 

THE POWER AND DIGNITY OF SACRIFICING PRIESTS. 

"They [priests] are peacemakers under Him 
who carry on this work for Him, applying the 
precious Blood to the souls of men by the Sacra- 
ments for the remission of sin." — The Evangelist 
Library: Exposition of the Beatitudes, edited by 
the Cowley Fathers, p. 31. 

"The priest is permitted to share certain sorrows 
of Christ in which the laymen has no part." — 
Ibid., p. 32. 

"But those priests who worthily fnlfil their office 
shall be more specially called the sons of God, 
because they shall have an especial likeness to 
Him, having been made partakers in a chosen way 
of the priesthood of His only begotten Son." — 
Ibid., p. 33. 

'•'You are not, then, to look upon him [the 
Confessor-Priest] as a friend only, or a con- 
stant sympathizer, but as one who is over you in 
the Lord — one who should sometimes reprove, and 
you to accept it without feeling as though the 
rebuke was given by an equal, who may sometimes 
encourage you, but rather as a guide than a friend ; 
one with whom you are to be on terms of intimacy 
different to your relation to all other persons on 
earth ; with whom you are not to talk as you would 
to others, as on an equal footing, but as speaking to 
one to whom respect and obedience is due. He is 
neither to be spoken to nor of, in any manner 


























AXD CHRISTIAX THEOLOGY 459 

approaching to familiarity." — Hints to Penitents, 
p. 128. Third edition. 

"The priest, as far as his priesthood is con- 
cerned, is Christ Himself the Sovereign and Eter- 
nal Priest." — A Brief Answer to Objections 
Brought Against Confession, Translated by the 
Feltham Nuns, p. 23. 

"The priest perpetuates Jesus Christ in our 
midst to endless ages, that is why we should go 
to him as Jesus Christ, and to Christ bv him." — 
Ibid., 21. 

"Learn to perceive Almighty God concealed for 
you in His priests." — Ibid., p. 23. 

"A penitent, prostrate at the feet of the priest, 
is a man raised, and elevated, and supremely hon- 
orable." — Ibid., p. 24. 

[What a pitiful sight to see intelligent men and 
women bound by the chains of superstition, to 
thus far forget and ignore their own power (God) 
within their soul as to kneel before a robed priest 
Avho is no more moral than they themselves. — The 
Author.] 

"Fear the eye and the voice of the priest." — ■ 
Ibid., p. 24. 

"The priests are, on earth, the spiritual police 
of Almighty God; they must hunt out, track, 
pursue, and arraign sinners, as the police pursue 
and apprehend thieves and rascals." — Ibid., p. 26. 

Secret Policy of the Teactarians. 

I do not think that I could more appro- 
priately close this book than by citing a 
very accurate description of the secret pol- 






















460 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

icy of the early Tractarians, given by one 
of the party, the Eev. WilUam Maskell, 
Vicar of St. Mary's church, in a letter 
which he published, in 1850, shortly before 
his secession to Rome. 

"As a fact," wrote Mr. Maskell, "the evangelical 
party, plainly, openly, and fully, declare their opin- 
ions upon the doctrines which they contend the 
Church of England holds : they tell their people 
continually, what they ought, as a matter of duty 
towards God and towards themselves, both to be- 
lieve and practise. Can it be pretended that we 
[Tractarians], as a party, anxious to teach the 
truth, are equally open, plain, and unreserved? If 
we are not so, is prudence^ or economy, or the de- 
sire to lead people gently and without rashly dis- 
turbing them, or any other like reason, a sufficient 
ground for our withholding large portions of Cath- 
olic truth ? Can any one chief doctrine be reserved 
by us, without blame or suspicion of dishonesty? 
And it is not to be alleged, that only the less im- 
portant duties and doctrines are so reserved: as if 
it would be an easy thing to distinguish and draw 
a line of division between them. Besides, that 
which we are disputing about cannot be trivial and 
unimportant; if it were so, we rather ought, in 
Christian charity, to acknowledge our agreement in 
essentials, and consent to give up the rest. 

"But we do reserve vital and essential truths; 
we often hesitate and fear to teach our people 
many duties, not all necessary in every case or to 
every person, but eminently practical, and sure to 
























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 461 

increase the growth of the inner spiritual life; we 
differ, in short, as widely from the Evangelical 
party in the manner and openness, as in the matter 
and details of our doctrine. Take, for example, 
the doctrine of Invocation of Saints ; or, of Prayers 
for the Dead ; or, of Justification by Faith only ; or, 
of the merit of good works ; or, of the necessity of 
regular and obedient Fasting; or, of the reverence 
due to the blessed Virgin Mary ; or, of the Propitia- 
tory Sacrifice of the Blessed Eucharist; or, of the 
almost necessity of Auricular Confession and Abso- 
lution, in order to the remission of mortal sin; — 
and more might be mentioned than these. Now 
let me ask you ; do we speak of these doctrines from 
our pulpits in the same manner, or to the same al- 
lowed extent, as we speak of them one to another, 
or think of them in our closets? Far from it; 
rather, when we do speak of them at all, in the way 
of public, ministerial, teaching, we use certain sym- 
bols and a shibboleth of phrases^ well enough un- 
derstood by the initiated few, but dark and mean- 
ingless to the many. All this seems to me to be, 
day by day and hour by hour, more and more hard 
to be reconciled with the real spirit, mind, and pur- 
pose of the English Reformation, and of the mod- 
ern English Church, shewn by the experience of 
300 years. It does seem to be, daily, more and 
more opposed to that single-mindedness of purpose, 
that simplicity and truthfulness and openness of 
speech and action, which the Gospel of our Blessed 
Lord requires. We are, indeed, to be 'wise as ser- 
pents ' ; but has our wisdom of the last few years 
been justly within the exceptions of that law ? Let 
me not be understood as if supposing that any mo- 













"{ — "€^ 












GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



tive, except prudence and caution, has caused this 
reserve; but there are limits beyond which Chris- 
tian caution degenerates into deceit, and an enemy 
might think that we could forget that there are 
more texts than one of Holy Scripture which speak 
of persecution to be undergone, for His sake, and 
for the Faith. 

"And if reserve in teaching carried to such an 
extent be, as I conceive it to be, unjustifiable, it is 
equally wrong, and to be condemned, in the prac- 
tice of those who listen to, and endeavour to obey 
such teaching. What can we think — when honestly 
we bring our minds to its consideration — what can 
we think, I say, of the moral evils which must 
attend upon and follow conduct and rule of relig- 
ious life, full of shifts and compromises and eva- 
sions'? a rule of life based upon the acceptance of 
half one doctrine, all the next, and none of the 
third; upon the belief entirely of another, hut not 
daring to say so; upon the constant practice, if pos- 
sible, of this or that particular duty, hut secretly 
and fearful of heing 'found out' ; doing it as if 
under the pretence of not doing it; if questioned, 
explaining it away, or answering with some dubious 
answer ; creeping out of difficulties ; anything, in 

A V^ORD, BUT SINCERE, STRAIGHTFORV^^ARD, AND 

TRUE. It would really seem as if, instead of being 
Catholics — as we say we are — in a Christian land, 
we were living in the city of heathen Eome, and 
forced to worship in the Catacombs and dark 
places of the earth."^* 

"^ Second Letter on the Present Position of the High 
Church Party in the Church of England, by the Eev. 
William Maskell, pp. 65-68. Third Edition. London: 
Pickering, 1850. 






















CHAPTEE XXIII. 

The Secrecy of the Eitualistic Con- 
fessional. 

The Confessional always a secret thing — Confes- 
sional Scandal at Leeds — Dr. Pusey on the 
Seal of the Confessional — Eitualistic Sisters 
teach girls how to confess to priests — Secret 
Confessional books for penitents — Dr. Pusey 
revives the Confessional — Four years later 
writes against it — He hears Confessions in pri- 
vate houses — His penitent's ^'burning sense of 
shame and deceitfulness" — Bishop Wilber- 
force's opinion of Dr. Pusey — A Eitualistic 
priest's extraordinary letter to a young lady — 
How Archdeacon Manning heard confessions 
on the sly — "A hole and corner affair.'^ 

Auricular Confession is always a secret 
thing. Both penitent and Father Confes- 
sor are expected to respect the secrecy of 
the Confessional. Were it a public trans- 
action it would lose its attraction to a cer- 
tain class of minds, and the power of the 
priest would cease to exist. It gives to the 

463 




















priest a power over the penitent which 
nothing can destroy but the grace of God. 
*'I could never bear to meet him in the 
street/' was the exclamation of a poor 
woman who had gone to Confession to her 
Vicar for more than a dozen years, but 
who, when I knew her, had learnt to be 
content with confessing her sins to Jesus 
Christ, and receiving direct from Him His 
all-snfficient absolution. She told me that 
whenever she saw her Father Confessor 
coming down the street towards her, she 
always went down a side street to avoid 
meeting him. The obligation of silence 
on the part of the penitent is thus tanght 
in a widely circulated little book, edited 
by the Tract Committee of the secret 
Society of the Holy Cross: — 

"There is a mutual obligation between the Con- 
fessor and the person making Confession, to keep 
secret what is said. He is solemnly bound to 
secrecy, and you also are bound to observe a rever- 
ent and religious silence upon what has been said. 
Be very careful yourself on this point. If you 
talk about what has passed in Confession, the priest 
may get the blame of its being known."^ 

^ Pardon Through the Precious Blood, edited by a 
Committee of Clergy, p. 31. Fifty-fourth thousand, 
1883. 






















The Confessional frequently interferes 
with the confidence which should exist be- 
tween husband and wife. The wife will 
tell her Father Confessor things which she 
would not dare to mention to her husband ; 
nor would she be expected ever to repeat 
to him the secret conversations between 
herself and her Confessor. An illustra- 
tion of this took place in a Puseyite 
Church at Leeds, as far back as 1850. 
The Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Charles T. 
Longley, afterwards Archbishop of Can- 
terbury) held an official and public in- 
quiry as to a Confessional scandal con- 
nected with the Church of St. Saviour's, 
Leeds. After the inquiry he wrote, and 
published, a letter to the Vicar, the Rev. 
H. F. Beckett, from which I take the fol- 
lowing extract: — 

"It appeared in evidence," wrote the Bishop, 
"which you did not contradict, and could not shake 
by any cross-examination, that Mr. Eooke, who was 
then a Deacon, having required a married woman 
who was a candidate for Confirmation to go for 
Confession to you as a priest, you received that 
female to Confession under these circumstances, 
and that you put to her questions which she says 
made her feel very much ashamed, and greatly dis- 






















tressed lier, and which were of such an indelicate 
nature that she would never tell her husband of 
them/^^ 

Instead of trying to place the matter 
before Dr. Longley in a more favourable 
light, Mr. Beckett's reply to the Bishop 
seemed to make the case even darker 
against himself, for he declared: — 

"Your lordship cannot but see that Mrs. 's 

not mentioning what had passed between her and 
m^^self to her husband is nothing at all to the pur- 
pose, since no woman would, 1 suppose, ever 

TELL HER HUSBAND WHAT PASSED IN HER CONFES- 
SION.^'^ 

On the part of the Eitnalistic Father 
Confessor, secrecy must be observed, no 
matter what the consequences may be. 
Rather than divulge the secrets entrusted 
to him the Confessor is recommended by 
the Rev. Dr. Pusey to resort to that which 
common-sense people would call lying and 
perjury. 

"No Confessor/' writes Dr. Pusey, "should ever 
give the slightest suspicion that he is alluding to 

^ A Letter to the Parishioners of St. Saviour's, Leeds, 
by the Bishop of Eipon, p. 37, London, 1851. 
Ubid.,p.d8. London, 1851. 
























what he has heard in the tribunal; but he should 
remember the canonical warning: 'What I know 
through Confession, I know less than what I do 
not know/ Pope Eugenius says that what a Con- 
fessor knows in this way, he knows it 'ut Deus'; 
while out of Confession he is only speaking *^ut 
homo'; so that, ^as man/ he can say that he does 
not know that which he has learned as God's rep- 
resentative. I go further still : 'As man he may 
swear with a clear conscience that he knows not, 
what he knows only as God.' "* 

This is fearful teaching. Imagine the 
Confessor in an English Court of Justice. 
He is sworn to ^'tell the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth" concern- 
ing the charge against the prisoner at the 
bar. He is asked, *^Did the prisoner ever 
tell you that he stole those boots T' The 
Confessor has heard from the prisoner, in 
the Confessional, a full acknowledgment 
of his guilt, yet when asked this question 
he may, according to Dr. Pusey, *^ swear 
with a clear conscience that he knows not, 
what he knows only as God." There is 
another alternative, which Dr. Pusey does 
not advise the Confessor to adopt. He 
might respectfully but firmly decline to 



* Pusey's Manual for Confessors. 
of the English Church," p. 402. 



'Adapted to the Use 























468 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



answer concerning what he had heard in 
the Confessional, and then take the con- 
sequence like a courageous and honest 
man. But, instead of this, he is recom- 
mended to *^ swear,'' calling God's holy 
name to witness to the truth of a state- 
ment which he knows is a lie, and an abom- 
inable perjury! Is this the kind of teach- 
ing which ought to be given to the clergy 
of the Eeformed Church of England! The 
book which contains it is a standard 
authority with Ritualistic Father Con- 
fessors. 

Every effort is made by Ritualistic 
Confessors to bring young children, as 
well as adults, to the Confessional, even 
at a very tender age. Dr. Pusey teaches 
that it is **the ordinary and right custom 
among the faithful to bring young chil- 
dren to Confession from the time they are 
seven years old; and it is a great negli- 
gence of parents to omit doing so."^ Sis- 
ters of Mercy sometimes help to bring the 
children to Confession. The *^ Sisters of 
the Church," otherwise known as the 

^ Pusey 's Manual for Confessors. "Adapted to the Use 
of the EngHsh Church," p. 159. 




















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 469 

**Kilburn Sisterhood," and sometimes as 
the ** Church Extension Association," 
have published several little books to 
teach little ones how to Confess to 
Priests."^ The Sisters of St. Margaret's, 
East Grinstead, are expected to urge the 
girls under their care to make a full and 
complete Confession of their sins. Here 
are their instructions on this point, being 
the advice to them of their Founder and 
Father Confessor, the late Eev. Dr. Neale, 
as contained in their privately printed 
book, entitled, the Spirit of the Founder. 
Dicit Fundator, 

"And this I say not so much about you, as about 
the confirmed girls. Whoever of you prepare these 
for their Communions, this above all things teach 
them, the great danger of a sacrilegious Confes- 
sion : the utter uselessness as well as wickedness of 
each succeeding one, while that first sin remains 
unwiped out. And this more especially, that if any 
one of them leaves us in that state, in all human 
probability she will never come out of it. Be- 
cause, even granted that she is pressed about Con- 
fession, after she has gone out into the world, the 

" Such as their Manual for the Children of the Church, 
which has passed through several editions, but was sup- 
pressed when publicly exposed. It is also taught in sev- 
eral of their "Catechisms." 






















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



sin will grow more and more terrible to look at; 
and if she kept it back from her first priest, small 
chance is there that she will have courage to make 
it known to a second/''^ 

It is not uncommon for Eitnalistic 
Father Confessors to circulate privately 
printed Manuals of Confession, for the use 
of children as well as adults. I have come 
across several of these. One is entitled 
A Manual of Confession for Children. 
** Translated and Adapted from the 
French. By a priest of the English 
Church. Privately printed." Even the 
printer's name is not given. As a speci- 
men of the awful teaching thus imparted 
to our little ones, I quote the following 
from this Manual: 

"A good Confession ought not only to be humble 
and sincere, but also full. You must tell your Con- 
fessor all the sins you can remember. For if you 
hide one sin on purpose, you lie to God ; you would 
be guilty of a great crime ; and you would not even 
receive the pardon of those sins which you have 
confessed/^^ 

' The Spirit of the Founder, p. 24. Privately printed 
for the use of the Sisters of St. Margaret's, East Grin- 
stead. 

^A Manual of Confession for Children, p. 12. Pri- 
vately printed. 

















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 471 

When the practice of Auricular Con- 
fession was revived, about five years after 
the birth of the Tractarian Movement, 
great care was taken in keeping secret the 
numerous little books of devotion and 
manuals for Confession circulated amongst 
the Tractarians. The author of Five 
Years in a Protestant Sisterhood, and 
Ten Years in a Catholic Convent, pub- 
lished in 1869, relates her own experience 
in this matter, some fifteen years after 
Auricular Confession had been reintro- 
duced. After mentioning some particulars 
concerning one of her lady friends, she 
proceeds : — 

"We drove out together frequently, and from 
her I learned much of the habits and customs of 
the High Church party. She had all the little 
books of doctrine, which at that time had been 
'adapted' from 'foreign sources ;' all the little won- 
derful compilations about 'How to Prepare for a 
First Confession/ 'Prayers for the Penitential Sea- 
sons/ 'Devotions for the Holy Eucharist/ 'Hours 
for the Use of Members of the English Church/ 
which were 'privately printed/ and handed about 
with a thousand injunctions to secrecy, from one 
to another of the initiated."^ 

® Five Years in a Protestant Sisterhood, and Ten Years 
in a Catholic Convent, p. 15. London: Longmans, 1S69, 


















GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

To the late Dr. Pusey is due the blame 
of reviving Auricular Confession in the 
Church of England. He commenced hear- 
ing Confessions in 1838. In 1850, Dr. 
Pusey wrote: — ^^It is now some twelve 
years, I suppose, since I was first called 
upon to exercise this office'' — of Father 
Confessor,^^ that is, in 1838. Again in 
1851, he wrote to the Bishop of Oxford: — 
^'What I say of Confession, I say upon the 
experience of thirteen years. ''^^ In a let- 
ter which he wrote to the Times, Novem- 
ber 29th, 1866, Pusey remarked: — ^^ Dur- 
ing the twenty-eight years in which I have 
received Confessions, I never had once to 
refuse Absolution." Twenty-eight years 
from 1866 brings us back again to 1838. 
It seems almost incredible that four years 
after that date Dr. Pusey wrote a learned 
and thoroughly Protestant treatise to 
prove that in the early Church not a single 
trace can be found of private Confession 
to priests, with a view to thus obtaining 
God's pardon for sins! This appeared in 

'" Life of Dr. Pusey, Vol. III., p. 269. 
" Ibid., p. 335. 











AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 473 










"W^ 



1842, in the form of lengthy * ^ Notes ^' to 
the works of Tertullian, in the Library of 
the Fathers, extending from page 376 to 
page 408. In these notes, Dr. Pusey quotes 
with decided approval the opinions of St. 
Chrysostom on the subject of Confes- 
sion : — 



"There could/' wrote Dr. Pusey, "if Eomanists 
would fairly consider this, be no way in which 
Confession to God alone, exclusive of man, could 
be expressed, if not here. S. Chrysostom says, ^to 
God alone,' 'apart in private,' Ho Him Who know- 
eth beforehand,' 'no one knowing,' 'no one present 
save Him Who hnoweth/ 'God alone seeing,' 'un- 
witnessed,' ^not to man/ 'not to a fellow-servant,' 
'within,' 'in the conscience,' 'in the memory,' 
'Judging thyself (in lieu of the Priest being the 
Judge), 'proving ourselves, each himself, not the 
one to the other,' 'in Church, to God' (i. e., in the 
General Confession). Accordingly, one Romanist 
writer boldly pronounces all these passages spuri- 
ous; and (since they are unquestionable) another 
of great name, Petavius, condemns them as 'being 
uttered in a declamatory way to the ignorant mul- 
titude for the sake of impressiveness.' But cer- 
tainly, poor as such an excuse would be for what, 
according to Romanists, is false teaching, the 
passages are too numerous and too uniform to 
admit of it; 'they manifestly contain S. Chrysos- 
tom's settled teaching,' and Petavius condemns 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



them as ^devoid of sound meaning, if fitted to the 
rule of the exact truth/ ''^^ 

Dr. Pusey thus summarized the whole 
question from an historical point of 
view : — 

"The instances, then, being in each case very 
numerous, the absence of any mention of Confes- 
sion in the early Church under the following cir- 
cumstances, does, when contrasted with the uni- 
form mention of it in the later, put beyond ques- 
tion that at the earlier period it was not the re- 
ceived practice."^^ 

Who would have thought that the man 
who thus held up to the admiration of 
English Churchmen the teaching of St. 
Chrysostom, of ^^ Confession to God alone, 
exclusive of man,'' was at the very mo- 
ment hearing Confessions himself, and had 
been hearing them for four years previ- 
ously! The utmost caution was exercised 
by Dr. Pusey in his Confessional work, 
and his very great dread of publicity led 
to practices which were anything but 
straightforward. His underhand pro- 
ceedings disgusted some of even his warm- 

" "Library of the Fathers." TertulUan, p. 401. Ox- 
ford: J. H. Parker, 1842. 
'""Ibid., p. 405. 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 475 

est friends. As early as 1850, the Rev. 
W. Maskell, one of his disciples who sub- 
sequently seceded to Rome, published a 
Letter to Dr. Pusey, in which he exposed 
his secret Confessional tactics : — 

"What, then/' wrote Mr. Maskell, "let me ask, 
do you conceive that the Bishop of Exeter would 
say, of persons secretly received [to Auricular Con- 
fession] against the known wish of their parents, 
of Confessions heard in the houses of common 
friends, or of clandestine correspondence to ar- 
range meetings, under initials, or in envelopes ad- 
dressed to other persons? — and more than this, 
when such Confessions are recommended and 
urged as a part of the spiritual life, and among 
religious duties; not in order to quiet the con- 
science before receiving the Communion. Think 
not that I write all this to give you unnecessary 
pain ; think not that I write it without a feeling of 
deep pain and sorrow in my own heart. But there 
is something which tells me, that, on behalf of 
thousands, this matter should now be brought be- 
fore the world plainly, honestly, and fully. I 
know how heavily the enforced mystery and secret 
correspondence regarding Confessions, in your 
Communion, has weighed down the minds of 
many to whom you and others have ^Ministered.' 
I know how bitterly it has eaten, even as a canker, 
into their very souls : I know how utterly the spe- 
cious arguments, which you have urged, have failed 
to remove their hurning sense of shame and de- 

CEITFULNESS" (p. 21). 






















We get a further peep into Dr. Pusey's 
cautious mode of hearing Confessions, in 
Miss Cusack's (^^the Nun of Kenmare'') 
Story of My Life. This lady, in her early 
life, before' her secession to Eome, was an 
inmate for some years of one of Dr. 
Pusey's sisterhoods. 

"It was/' writes Miss Cusack, "notable that no 
matter what the Doctor [Pusey] thought or said 
about the necessity of availing oneself of the ^Sac- 
rament', he was very careful to whom he admin- 
istered it. Further, it was well known that he 
administered the Sacrament of Confession, for the 
most part, in open defiance of the Bishop of the 
Diocese, where he met his penitents, literally, 'on 
the sly/ I believe that the secrecy, and conceal- 
ment, and devices which had to be used to get an 
audience with the Doctor, for the purpose of Con- 
fession, had a little, if it had not a good deal, to 
do with his success. The lady (few men went to 
Confession) who availed herself of the privilege, 
or who could obtain it, was looked upon with more 
or less holy envy, and felt correspondingly elat- 
ed."^* 

"A Confession [i. e., to a priest] avails which 
contains all you can recall. If other sins come 
back to your mind afterwards, which you would 
have confessed had you remembered them, they 
should be confessed afterwards, because the forgive- 

" The Story of My Life, by M. F. Cusack, "The Nun 
of Kenmare," p. 63. London, 1891. 





















AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 



ness is conditional upon the completeness of the 
Confessions^ 

The High Church Bishop of Oxford (Dr. 
Samuel Wilberforce) on November 30th, 
1850, wrote to Dr. Pusey: — 

"You seem to me to be habitually assuming the 
place and doing the work of a Eoman Confessor, 
and not that of an English clerg^^man. Now, I 
so firmly believe that of all the curses of Popery 
this is the crowning curse, that I cannot allow vol- 
untarily within my charge the continuance of any 
ministry which is infected by it/'^^ 

If the Bishops of the present day would 
only act as Bishop Wilberforce did, they 
would, unfortunately, find their hands full 
of this kind of work. The Confessional 
is now taught (in quite as Eomish a form 
as that which was condemned by him) by 
thousands of nominally. Church of Eng- 
land clergymen, who glory in what Dr. S. 
Wilberforce so truly termed "the crown- 
ing curse" of Popery. Had the Bishops 
done their duty this "curse" would have 
been stamped out long ago. 

^■' Hints for a First Confession, by Dr. Pusey, p. 14. 
Edition, 1884. 

" Life of Bishop S. Wilberforce, Vol. II., p. 90. 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 

A few other typical illustrations of the 
secrecy of the Confessional may here be 
added, out of many more which could 
easily be brought forward; the first from 
the year 1847; the second from the year 
1853; and the third from 1872. The 
author of that well-known book, From 
Oxford to Rome J published in 1847, and 
written by one who was in full sympathy 
with the Tractarian Movement, informs 
us: — 

"Confession the young Anglican has been accus- 
tomed to regard as one of his secret privileges, 
Scarcely ever spoken of, even in the most confi- 
dential intercourse, it is yet practised very exten- 
sively, and, as we believe, most beneficially, in the 
Enghsh Church."" 

This is an important testimony, as com- 
ing from one who believed in the Confes- 
sional, and was not ashamed to acknowl- 
edge the mystery which surrounded its 
practice in his time. 

The second instance is connected with 
the experience of the Eev. Lord Charles 

"From Oxford to Borne: and how it fared with some 
who lately took the Journey, p. 205. London: Long- 
mans, 1847. 






rrnr 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 479 

Thynne, who was for several years a 
clergyman in the Church of England, but 
seceded to Rome in 1853. After taking 
this decisive step his lordship addressed 
a lengthy letter to his late parishioners, 
giving his reasons for leaving the Church 
of England. The secrecy practised by the 
Tractarians with regard to Auricular Con- 
fession was one of those reasons. 

**THE VERY SECEET STEALTHY WAY.'' 

"I believe/' wrote Lord Charles Thynne, "that 
in order to obtain the remission of our sins by Ab- 
solution, it was necessary to confess them to some 
one possessed of authority to receive Confessions, 
and to give Absolution. I believe this to be nec- 
essary for all who have fallen into sin after Bap- 
tism. But when I had recourse to the only means 
within my reach, when I was a member of the 
Church of England, I was pained hy the very secret 
stealthy way in which alone my necessities could 
be met, showing that so far as the Church of Eng- 
land was concerned there was something unreal 
and unauthorised in the act."^^ 

The next illustration contains the un- 
willing testimony of a Ritualistic Father 
Confessor himself. At a meeting for the 

^^ Browne's Annals of the Tractarian Movement, p. 
296. Third Edition. 

























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH 



election of Proctors to Convocation, held 
at Durham, February 19tli, 1874, the late 
Eev. G. T. Fox, a clergyman of high per- 
sonal character, read to the audience a 
letter written by the Eev. Charles Jupp, 
a Eitualistic Father Confessor, to a young 
lady, making an appointment with her to 
receive her confession. The following was 
the letter read: — 

"Houghton-le-Spring, May 26th, 1872. 

"My Dear Miss , — As usual, important 

letters are always delayed, and I fear my reply to 
yours of last week's date will not reach London till 
after you have left. I will, therefore, only say 
that I was very glad indeed to hear from you, and 
particularly on the subject you mentioned. I 
shall be quite ready and willing (in virtue of my 

office) to see you as you desire. Mrs. has 

left, and we have the house to ourselves. Parish- 
ioners are so constantly coming on business of one 
kind or another, that your visits would not be 
noticed. Please do not hint anything to Mrs. 
Juppy as I think all parochial affairs, of whatever 
kind, ought to be known to the priest only, and 
his lips sealed to every enquirer. We should be so 
glad to see you back after your long absence. 
"In great haste, 

"Yours faithfully in Christ, 

"Charles Jupp."^^ 

^^ Church Association Monthly Intelligencer, March, 
1874, p. 98. 
























AND CHKISTIAN THEOLOGY 481 

The late Cardinal Manning, in his An- 
glican days, while Archdeacon of Chiches- 
ter, heard Confessions in the same stealthy 
manner. Mr. Purcell, his Roman Catholic 
biographer, relates that: — 

"In his Diar}^, 1844-47, and in his letters to 
Laprimaudaye and Eobert Wilberforce, Manning 
constantly makes use of the somewhat mysterious 
terms — Under the Seal, and In Sacro. To the in- 
itiated amongst High Church Anglicans these sym- 
bolic terms signified the Sacrament of Penance or 
Confession, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice; outside 
the Anglican community commonly called the 
Mass. These holy and wholesome Catholic doc- 
trines Manning, as an Anglican, held and taught, 
if not in public, in private. In his sermons and 
Charges, he practised ; or spoJce under re- 

serve, or in mere outline, of Confession and the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice. But in his pinvate exhorta- 
tions he inculcated these Catholic doctrines in all 
their fulness. The Archdeacon of Chichester prac- 
tised what he preached. 

"Hostility of the authorities of their own 
Church, compelled the unhappy High Church 
Anglicans to cast a veil of mystery or secrecy over 
the practice of Confession. Instead of being an 
ordinary or commonplace act of duty practised 
coram ecclesia. Confession among the Anglicans 
was, if I may so speak, a hole-and-corner affair, 
spoken of ivith hated breath, and carried on under 
lock and key."^^ 

^^ Purcell's Life of Cardinal Manning, Vol. I., p. 489. 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



There were other difficulties which 
Father Confessors had to contend with. 
The Eev. William J. Bntler, Vicar of 
Wantage, and subsequently Dean of Lin- 
coln, writing to Archdeacon Manning, 
August 29th, 1840, remarked: ''The diffi- 
culty ivith which, as Vicar of Wantage, I 
am confronted in the practice of hearing 
Confessions is the opposition to be feared 

ON THE PART OF THE HUSBAND to the wifc's 

'opening her griefs to another man/'^^ It 
is hardly to be wondered at that husbands 
should object to their wives going to Con- 
fession, more especially to bachelor 
priests, since, according to the opinion of 
one of those Father Confessors quoted 
above (p. 57), "no woman would, I sup- 
pose, ever tell her husband what passed in 
her Confession,^* A married woman will 
tell her Father Confessor things which she 
would never dare to talk about to her own 
husband. 

THE CONFESSOR AS A FOX. 

"The most responsible office of the priest of 
God," writes Father Augustine Wirth, 0. S. B., 

=^1 lUd., p. 490. 












AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 483 





"is the hearing of confessions 



in the pul- 





pit he can touch certain sins only with kid gloves, 
in the Confessional he probes the sores to the very 
bottom. In the pulpit he must be a lion, in the 
Confessional a Fox."^'- 

^- The Confessional, adapted by the Kev. Augustus 
Wirth, O. S. B., p. v. Fourth edition. Published at Eliza- 
beth, New Jersey, 1882. 











rr 





















CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Seceet Histoky of '^The Priest in 
Absolution/' 

Part I. Of the Priest in Absolution — Praised by 
the Eitualistie Press. Part II. Secretly cir- 
culated amongst "Catholic" Priests only — 
Lord Eedesdale's exposure of the book in the 
House of Lords — Archbishop Tait says it is 
"a disgrace to the community'' — Secret letter 
from the Master of the Society of the Holy 
Cross — Statement of the S. S. C. — Special 
secret Chapter of the Society to consider the 
Priest in Absolution — Full report of its pro- 
ceedings, with speeches of the Brethren — Ee- 
fuses to condemn the book — Discussion in 
Canterbury Convocation — Severe Episcopal 
Censures — Immoral Eitualistic Confessors 
ruin women ; Testimony of Archdeacon Allen 
— Dr. Pusey's acknowledgments of the dan- 
gers of the Confessional; "It is the road by 
which a number of Christians go down to 
Hell" — Another secret meeting of the Society 
of the Holy Cross — Eeports of the speeches 
and resolutions — Some Bishops secretly 
friendly to the Society — Canon Knox-Little's 
connection with the Society of the Holy Cross 
— Strange and Jesuitical Proceedings at the 
Society's Synod. 

484 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 485 

For many years the Ritualistic Father 
Confessors possessed no book of their own 
to guide them in their work, and were 
therefore entirely dependent upon Roman 
Catholic books written in Latin, or French, 
and as many of these Confessors were by 
no means Latin scholars, and numbers of 
them knew nothing of French, it was at 
length found necessary to make an effort 
towards supplying this long-felt want. 
The work was undertaken by the Rev. 
J. C. Chambers, a well-known clergyman, 
who, in 1863, was Master of the secret 
Society of the Holy Cross. Instead, how- 
ever, of writing an independent treatise 
on the Confessional, he contented himself 
with translating and adapting a Roman 
Catholic work, written by the Abbe Gaume, 
which he issued under the now well-known 
title of the Priest in Absolution. It was 
divided into two parts. Part I. was pub- 
lished in 1866, and sold to the public ; and 
a second edition was issued in 1869, but 
this was soon after withdrawn from public 
sale. When the first edition appeared it 
received a warm welcome from the Ritual- 
istic Press. The Union Revieiv declared 
























that it was ^'a golden treatise,'' ^^full of 
wisdom, sound teaching, and very valuable 
suggestions with regard to the Sacrament 
of Penance." But the reviewer evidently 
perceived a danger which was not realized 
by Mr. Chambers, for he wisely added 
that, ^^It would have been far better to 
have issued the book in Latin. ''^ No doubt 
it would have been ^*far better'' for the 
Eitualistic Father Confessors had this 
warning been issued in time. It was 
clearly not wise to reveal to the English 
public in all its hideous deformity the 
moral filth of the Confessional. Had it 
been printed in Latin very few would have 
discovered its indecent character. The 
Church Review affirmed that the book 
could ^*be spoken of with the highest 
praise. It is a book which demands pray- 
erful study, and our clerical readers will 
find it the greatest boon."^ 

The publication of the first half of the 
Priest in Absolution did not create any 
public excitement. Its unhappy birth ap- 
pears to have been unnoticed by Protes- 

^ Union Beview, Volume for 1867, p. 215. 
'■'Church Beview, March 23rd, 1867, p. 278. 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 

tant Churchmen. The second part was 
issued in 1872. It is dedicated ^*To the 
Masters, Vicars, and Brethren, of the 
Society of the Holy Cross," and the dedi- 
cation states that it was ^^ begun at their 
request." A note to the ** Advertisement 
to the Reader" states that: — 

"To prevent scandal arising from the curious or 
prurient misuse of a book which treats of spiritual 
diseases, it has been thought best that the sale 
should be confined to the clergy who desire to have 
at hand a sort of vademecum for easy reference in 
the discharge of their duties as Confessors." 

In this way the laity of the Church of 
England were kept in the dark as to what 
was going on. But not only was every 
effort made to keep the book out of their 
hands ; but even ordinary Church of Eng- 
land clergymen were not allowed to pur- 
chase it, unless they were Father Con- 
fessors, or could give a reference to some 
well-known Ritualistic priest. One Church 
of England clergyman ventured to send 
Mr. Chambers himself stamps for a copy, 
and was not a little surprised on receiving 
the following reply: — 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TKUTH, 



"18 SoHO Square. 
"Dear Sir, — The book is only delivered to such 
priests of the English Church as are in the habit 
of hearing Confessions, or are known to me per- 
sonally, or through friends. As your name is en- 
tirely unknown to me, I must require a reference 
to some well-known High Church priest, or I must 
return the stamps. 

J. C. Chambers." ^ 

When Mr. Chambers died there was a 
great danger lest the unsold copies of the 
Priest in Absolution — which was his pri- 
vate property — should be sold to some sec- 
ond-hand or other bookseller, and thus one 
of the great secrets of the Society of the 
Holy Cross should become widely known 
to the Protestants of England. There was 
no time to be lost. At the Monthly Chap- 
ter of the Society, held June 9th, 1874, a 
letter was read from the Rev. Joseph 
James Elkington, then Curate of St. 
Mary's, Soho, asking the Society to buy 
the copyright from the executors of Mr. 
Chambers. 

LORD REDESDALE's EXPOSURE. 

On June 14th, 1877, the late Lord Redes- 
dale exposed the Priest in Absolution in 

^ The BocJc, June 6tli, 1873, p. 391. 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 



the House of Lords. His lordship was not 
a fanatic, nor could any one fairly describe 
him as an Evangelical Churchman. On 
the contrary he was, says Dr. Davidson, 
the present Bishop of Winchester, ^^a 
sober and trusted High Churchman of the 
earlier sort.''* Lord Redesdale quoted 
from the book itself, which he held in his 
hand. After this exposure it was com- 
monly reported by the Eitualists that his 
lordship 's copy had been stolen for his use 
from the library of a Ritualistic priest. 
No one, however, ventured to name the 
clergyman who had lost his copy, and as 
a matter of fact there was not a word of 
truth in the rumour. The copy was ob- 
tained in a perfectly honourable and 
straightforward manner by the late Mr. 
"Robert Fleming. This false rumour was 
repeated again at Brighton, during the 
summer of 1890, by the Rev. C. Hardy Lit- 
tle, Vicar of St. Martin's, Brighton; but 
at a great public meeting held in the Dome, 
Brighton, on June 20th of that year, Mr. 
Fleming himself appeared on the plat- 



'- Life of Archbishop Tait, Vol. II., p. 171. 
edition. 



First 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



form, and told to the vast audience, which 
included a considerable number of Ritual- 
ists, the true story of how he came into 
possession of the Priest in Absolution, and 
his version of the case has never since 
been challenged by the Eitualists. Mr. 
Fleming, who held the original copy of 
the book in his hand, from which Lord 
Redesdale had quoted in the House of 
Lords, said that a gentleman occupying a 
prominent position in the Church of Eng- 
land had given it to him, at his request, 
for some little service which he had been 
enabled to render to him. As he presented 
him with the book that gentleman said 
smilingly to him, **you won't make a bad 
use of it!" To which he replied, '*A11 
right." The statement that the book was 
stolen, he emphatically declared, was an 
absolute falsehood.^ 

Lord Eedesdale in the course of his 
speech in the House of Lords, quoted 
largely from the Priest in Absolution, to 
prove that it was a grossly indecent and 
abominable book. Some of the portions 

^English Churchman, June 26th, 1890, p. 415. 




CO 























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 491 

read were so vile that, as the Right Rev. 
Biographer of Archbishop Tait informs 
us, ^^many of the quotations were neces- 
sarily withheld from publication either in 
the newspapers or in Hansard/'^ Lord 
Redesdale concluded his speech by say- 
ing:— 

"I must say, my Lords, that I think it high time 
the laity should move in this matter. Hitherto it 
has been treated too much as one exclusively for 
the clergy. In calling your lordships' attention to 
the subject, I am actuated simply by a sense of 
duty, for I feel that the time has arrived when 
there should be a decided condemnation of such 
practices/'^ 

The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. 
Tait) addressed the House after Lord 
Redesdale sat down. He said: — 

"The fact that such a book should be printed 
and circulated is to my mind a matter of very 
great concern. The Noble Earl spared us from 
many details ; but at the same time he read quite 
enough to show that no modest person could read 
the hook without regret, and that it is a disgrace 
TO THE COMMUNITY that such a book should be 
circulated under the authority of clergymen of the 

""Life of Archlishop Tait, Vol. II., p. 172. 
' Hid., p. 172. 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

Established Church. ... I cannot imagine that 
any right-minded man could wish to have such 
questions [as those suggested in the Priest in Abso- 
lution] addressed to any member of his family; 
and if he had any reason to suppose that any mem- 
ber of his family had been exposed to such an ex- 
amination, I am sure it would be the duty of any 
father of a family to remonstrate with the clergy- 
man who had put the questions, and warn him 
never to approach his house again.^^^ 

As a result of this exposure great excite- 
ment was created in the minds of all loyal 
Churchmen, who were righteously indig- 
nant at learning the filthy character of the 
Eitualistic Confessional, as revealed in the 
Priest in Absolution. 

The daily papers of the United King- 
dom, almost without exception, gave ex- 
pression to the feelings of the country, in 
leading articles condemning the Society of 
the Holy Cross, and its Confessional book, 
in the severest terms. About two months 
after the exposure Lord Abergavenny for- 
warded to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
an address on the subject signed by peers 
and noblemen of England, Ireland, and 

^ Church Association Monthly Intelligencer, August, 
1877, pp. 314-316. 





















Scotland, in which they expressed their 
** sorrow and deep indignation at the ex- 
treme indelicacy and impropriety of the 
questions therein [in the Priest in Abso- 
lution] put to married and unmarried 
women and children.'* 

LETTER FROM THE MASTER OF S. S. C. 

After the exposure Master Bagshawe 
refused to accept the resignations of the 
brethren for the time being. The more 
timid of the brethren were thoroughly 
frightened by the exposure which had 
taken place, more especially after the Rock 
had published a complete list of their 
names and addresses, ^hich made them 
most anxious to leave an organization that 
had brought them into trouble with their 
parishioners. The Master acknowledges 
that the Society was ^^responsible for a 
limited and cautious supply to priests of 
known character^' of the now notorious 
Confessional book ; and it is quite evident 
from the whole of his letter, which he sent 
to the brethren June 25th, 1877, how 
greatly the Society dreaded the light of 
publicity being thrown on its dark under- 























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

ground proceedings. There is reason to 
believe that most of the brethren who at 
this period left the Society did so, not be- 
cause they disapproved of the Society or 
the Priest in Absolution, but simply 
through fear. The fact that scarcely any 
of them publicly repudiated either the one 
or the other is a proof of this. There were, 
however, a few exceptions, of which the 
most remarkable was that of the Eev. 
Frank N Oxenham — he joined the S. S. C. 
in 1872 — who, as early as June 19th, wrote 
tb the Archbishop of Canterbury: — 



"When, in consequence of your Grace's observa- 
tions, I looked into the book, I felt that no words 
could be too strong to condemn the principles ad- 
vocated, and the advice given in that book as to 
the questioning of persons who came to Confes- 
sion. If the practice of Confession involved, which 
it certainly does not^ any such questioning, I should 
regard it with abhorrence. I am sure, my Lord, 
that a very large number of the members of the 
Society of the Holy Cross are as ignorant as I was 
of the contents of this unhappy book, and would 
repudiate its principles in the matter to which I 
have alluded as sincerely and utterly as I do. In 
justice to those persons, as well as to myself, I am 
venturing to trouble your Grace with this com- 
munication. I very deeply regret that the Society 












^Sf)^ 













of the Holy Cross ever came into possession of 
this book, and I shall take the earliest opportunity 
open to a private member, to move that all remain- 
ing copies of the second part of the Priest in Abso- 
lution be forthwith destroyed."^ 

This condemnation of the Priest in Ab- 
solution, I may here remark, came from 
one who was for many years an advanced 
Eitualist, and is therefore all the more 
valuable on that account, as showing its 
mischievous and dangerous character. Un- 
fortunately for Mr. Oxenham's opinion, a 
**very large number of the members*' of 
the Society of the Holy Cross did not 
** repudiate its principles/' The proposal 
that the Society should burn the remain- 
ing copies in its possession was brought 
forward, though not by Mr. Oxenham, at 
the May Synod, 1878, when the following 
resolution was carried by thirty-four to 
eight: — *^That this Synod is not in favour 
of the destruction of the remaining copies 
of the Priest in Absolution at the present 
time.'*^^ The Society would not even al- 
low that there was any possibility of the 

"Life of Archbishop Tail, Vol. II., p. 174. 

^"/S. S. C. Analysis of the May Synod, 1878, p. 16. 








mn 
















496 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



advice on questioning, contained in the 
book, being misused, for when Mr. Oxen- 
ham, at the Special Chapter, held July 
5th, 1877, moved that ^'the advice given 
in this book as to questioning penitents 
is at least liable to injurious misuse,'' his 
motion was lost. The report of the pro- 
ceedings does not state how many voted 
for or against it.^^ 

OPINIONS OF THE BISHOPS. 

The Bishop of St. Asaph said: — **The 
system of Confession which we have been 
discussing, followed by priestly absolution, 
has no sanction from Scripture or from 
the formularies of the Church of England. 
I believe that it is most injurious to those 
who come to confess, and most detrimental 
to the Minister who receives Confession. 
. . . What was the result of the system 
in Ireland, when assassination was fre- 
quent in that country! Did not the assas- 
sin go to Confession the previous day and 
obtain relief to his conscience! And what 
was the effect on the priest's own mind? 

^^ Minutes of the Special Chapter, p. 11. 
























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 497 

Was it likely that he could come in contact 
with so much sin and contract no defile- 
ment ! Alas ! let the moral aspect of many 
countries on the continent supply the 
answer/' 

Perhaps one of the most damaging ex- 
posures of the evil results of the Ritual- 
istic Confessional ever made in public, was 
that made in the Lower House of Canter- 
bury Convocation, on July 4th, 1877, two 
days only before the debate in the Upper 
House. The subject of Confession had 
been sent down to the Lower House, by 
the Bishops, for discussion, in consequence 
of the exposure of the Priest in Absolu- 
tion in the House of Lords. In the course 
of the debate in the Lower House, Arch- 
deacon Allen rose and said: — 



"I find it printed that it is a shame to suspect 
any of these Clergymen of misusing this mode of 
treatment of spiritual disease. A shame to suspect 
them ! If that is said, I must say something on 
the other side. I was talking to an elderly clergy- 
man — a Rural Dean, older than myself — a man 
who has daily pra3^er in his church, and whom all 
his friends and neighbours respect — a venerable 
and wise High Churchman, and he told me that in 
his own experience lie had known three clergymen 




m 























498 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



who had practised this teaching of habitual Con- 
fession as a duty, who had fallen into habits of im- 
morality with women ivho had come to them for 
guidance. That was the testimony of an old-fash- 
ioned High Churchman; and I will give his name 
to any one who asks me for it. You know it is 
said a discreet Confessor will make a proper use 
of this book [the Priest in Absolution']. A dis- 
creet Confessor ! Is it possible that discretion can 
be a quality of every young clergyman who is a 
member of this Society, which is said to have a 
property in this book ?"^^ 

CLERICAL CELIBACY. 

The truth of Archdeacon Allen's charge 
against these three Eitnalistic clergymen 
does not appear to have been ever chal- 
lenged, much less refuted. It raises the 
very serious question, How far is the 
Ritualistic Confessional used for immoral 
purposes by wicked and evil-disposed 
Clergymen? No one wishes to make 
sweeping and general charges on such a 
subject. But is there not just cause for 
anxiety! Is not human nature the same 
in all ages? That the Confessional has 
been grossly used for immoral purposes, 

^'^ Chronicle of Convocation. Sessions, July 3-6, 1877, 
p. 231. 























AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 499 

by evil-disposed priests, and that to a 
gigantic extent in the Church of Rome, is 
amply proved, beyond the possibility of 
refutation, by the Bulls of the Popes them- 
selves against solicitant priests. Any one 
who wishes for clear and ample evidence 
on this point, based exclusively upon 
Roman Catholic authorities, should cer- 
tainly read An Historical Sketch of Sacer- 
dotal Celibacy, by Mr. Henry C. Lea, of 
Philadelphia. Mr. Lea^s book is not suffi- 
ciently known in Europe, and I only won- 
der that an edition of such a learned work 
has never yet been published in England. 
He proves conclusively that the Confes- 
sional has been used, by wicked priests, 
for the vilest purposes in the past, and 
that the offence is not unknown to the 
nineteenth century. It appears that the 
Abbe Helsen, who for twenty-five years 
had been and still was a Roman Catholic 
preacher in Brussels, addressed an indig- 
nant remonstrance to the Archbishop of 
jMechlin, in 1832, in which he exposed to 
the light of day the awful immorality ex- 
isting at that time amongst the Romish 
priesthood. 










f^rvA.-' -'-^ 





















GOD, THE BIBLE, TRUTH, 



"Helsen/' writes Mr. Lea, "alludes to the scan- 
dals of the Confessional as a cause of its avoidance 
by the faithful and as contributing powerfully to 
the growth of religious indifference, and that these 
scandals exist is not a mere matter of conjecture 
or inference. If it were so, there would be no 
need for reiterating the prohibitions against the 
absolution by Confessors of their fair partners in 
guilt, which is still occasionally found to be nec- 
essary by modern Councils ; nor would Pius IX., in 

1866, have felt himself obliged to declare that the 
power granted to Bishops to absolve in cases re- 
served to the Pope shall not in future extend to 
offences reserved for Papal absolution by Benedict 
Xiy/s Bull ' Sacr amentum Pcenitentice/ In fact, 
the crime of ^solicitation' must have become noto- 
riously frequent before the Congregation of the In- 
quisition at Eome could have felt impelled, in 

1867, to put forth an Instruction addressed to all 
Archbishops, Bishops, and Ordinaries, complaining 
that the Constitutions on the subject did not re- 
ceive proper attention, and that in some places 
abuses had crept in, both as to requiring penitents 
to denounce guilty Confessors, and as to the pun- 
ishing of Confessors guilty of solicitation [i. e., 
soliciting women, while in the Confessional, to im- 
morality]. It, therefore, urged the officials every- 
where to greater vigour in investigating such of- 
fences, and gave a summary of the practice of the 
Inquisition in regard to these matters."^^ 

Bearing these and other similar facts 

^^ Lea's History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, p. 633. Second 
edition. Boston: Houghton, Miflflin & Co., 1884. 























in mind, I am not at all surprised to learn, 
on the reliable authority of Archdeacon 
Allen, that within the experience of even 
one clergyman, ^Hhree'^ instances were 
made known in which the Ritualistic Con- 
fessional has been used by Father Con- 
fessors for the vilest purposes. Are we 
to suppose that those three were the only 
guilty persons in England? If the expe- 
rience of others could only be made public, 
is there not reason to fear that the in- 
stances would be considerably multiplied? 
Has not, at least, one clergyman, since 
1877, been deprived of his living for the 
crime of seducing a young lady through 
the Confessional 1 Clerical celibacy is rap- 
idly spreading amongst the Ritualists, and 
it is not at all a pleasant thought that our 
wives, daughters, and sisters may be going 
to Confession to some young bachelor 
priest, and talking with him on subjects 
which should never be alluded to. This 
sort of thing is bad enough when the Con- 
fessor happens to be a married man, but 
when he is a celibate the dangers are 
greatly increased. Let it not be said that 
I am bringing reckless and wholesale 
























502 




GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



charges against the Ritualistic clergy. I 
am doing nothing of the kind. I am simply 
dealing with facts, and with possibilities, 
which we cannot afford to ignore. That 
Confessional may be nsed for the vilest 
purposes is acknowledged even by the 
author of the Priest in Absolution, who, 
as a Ritualistic Confessor of many years' 
experience, speaks with some authority on 
this point. While writing on the care 
which the Confessor should exercise in 
hearing the Confessions of females, he 
remarks : — 

"Nothing more shows the fearfulness of Satanic 
devices than that it is possible that a Sacrament 
which was instituted to drive forth from souls sin 
and the devil, and make them living temples of the 
Holy Ghost, may be profaned by abusers of its 
ministrations to the grossest iniquity."^* 

This testimony of the Editor of the 
Priest in Absolution is corroborated by 
that of Dr. Pusey, given after he had him- 
self been hearing Confessions for forty 
years. He tells us of one way in which 
the Confessional is still abused by Con- 
fessors : — 

" The Priest in Absolution, Part II., p. 77. 

















"It is a sad sight," writes Dr. Puse}^, "to see 
Confessors giving their whole morning to young 
women devotees, while they dismiss men or mar- 
ried women, who have, perhaps, left their house- 
hold affairs with difficulty, to find themselves re- 
jected with, ^I am busy, go to some one else !' so 
that, perhaps, such people will go on for months 
or years without the Sacraments. This is not hear- 
ing Confessions for God's sake, but for one's 
own,' 



?n5 



DANGERS OF THE RITUALISTIC CONFESSION. 

Again, Dr. Pusey warns the Confessor, 
when in the Confessional: — 

"You may pervert this Sacrament [of Penance] 
from its legitimate end, which is to kindle an ex- 
ceeding horror of sin in the minds of others, into 
a subtle means of feeding evil passions and sin in 
your own mind."^^ 

He also warns the Confessor, who hears 
Confessions while ** in a state of mortal 
sin,'' which does not necessarily imply 
what the world would term a wickedness : — 

"If the ministry of a Confessor is beset with 
dangers, even for a good man, how can one in your 
condition hope to escape? There is but too great 

" Pusey's Manual for Confessors, p. 108. 
" Ibid., p. 102. 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



danger, that you will add fresh crimes to your ac- 
count by an undue indulgence to faults in others 
which you have not overcome in yourself ; or, worst 
of all, being the cause of temptation to others, 
thereby proving yourself no spiritual father, but 
rather a ravening wolf ; no Minister of God, but of 
the devil; no physician, but the murderer of 
soul."^^ 

And yet one more quotation from Dr. 
Pusey which, with all my heart and soul, 
I believe to be the solemn truth: — 

"Be assured,^' he writes, "that this is one of the 
gravest faults of our day in the administration of 
the Sacrament of Penance, that it is the road by 
which a number of Christians go down to hell."^® 

When the Editor of the Priest in Abso- 
lution, and the Rev. Dr. Pusey, both ex- 
perienced Father Confessors themselves, 
make such startling acknowledgments as 
those I have just quoted, is it surprising 
or unreasonable that Protestant Church- 
men also should raise a loud note of warn- 
ing, and urge people on no account to enter 
on that road, by which '^ a number of 
Christians go down to hell "? It cannot 

^Ubid., p. 99. 
^Ubid., p. 315. 










'^nrti 










be Christ's road, for he who walks on that 
road cannot possibly go astray. Such dire 
possibilities as those so frankly acknowl- 
edged by these two noted Kitualistic lead- 
ers, can never result from that Confession 
to the Great Hight Priest, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, practiced by all devout Protestant 
Christians. The Father Confessor, as Dr. 
Pusey admits, is often, while in the Con- 
fessional, the ^' murderer of souls.'' 

What the Society of the Holy Cross has 
done, in its corporate capacity, with refer- 
ence to the Priest in Absolution, since the 
Synod whose secret proceedings I have 
just described, is more than I can say, but 
I have reason to believe that it still retains 
possession of the book. So careful have 
the members of the S. S. C. been to keep 
their underground proceedings from the 
knowledge of the general public, that it 
was not until eighteen years had passed 
by, after the celebrated exposure of 1877, 
that any Protestant Churchman was able 
to see a single secret document of the 
Society connected with that important 
event in its history. I have reported 




















GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

the Society's secret proceedings, and the 
speeches delivered at its meetings, at con- 
siderable length, for what I believe to be 
sufficient reasons. There is no other way 
in which the general public can be made 
acquainted with what is going on under- 
neath the surface. Secrecy cannot be de- 
feated except by publicity. And it is im- 
portant that the public , shall know that 
many of the men whose secret utterances 
I have here reported, have since been pro- 
moted to high positions in the Church, 
possibly because their real sentiments were 
unknown to those in whose hands the 
higher patronage of the Church has been 
placed. I have no doubt they will be very 
much annoyed at being thus shown in their 
true colours, nor is there any doubt that 
they will bitterly denounce me for drag- 
ing their secret speeches out into the light 
of day. But it cannot be helped. Certainly 
the Society of the Holy Cross, as a Society 
— whatever may be said in favour of in- 
dividuals — does not come out with much 
credit to itself. Its underhand dodgery 
and Jesuitical tactics deserve the contempt 
of all men who love straightforward deal- 






















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 507 

ing. Its filthy Confessional book has never 
been condemned by the Society as a whole, 
though a few of its members have written 
and spoken against it. On the contrary, 
the Society seems to glory in what many 
will consider its shame. Individual mem- 
bers of the Society found themselves, in 
the latter part of 1877, in many instances 
subject to a great deal of unpleasant criti- 
cism from their Protestant parishioners. 
Some of them put a bold face on the mat- 
ter, while others published apologies for 
their conduct. 




'^^^ 




















CHAPTER XXV. 

THE THEOLOGY OF PAPAL ROME. 

Father Chiniquy, in his celebrated work, "Fifty 
Years in the Church of Rome/'* has to say what 
follows here regarding the theology of Rome: 

"the IMPUEITIES of the theology of ROME." 

"The mother of harlots and abominations/' — 
Eev. xvii., 5. 

"Constrained by the voice of my conscience to 
reveal the impurities of the theology of the Church 
of Rome, I feel, in doing so, a sentiment of inex- 
pressible shame. They are of such a loathsome 
nature, that often they cannot be expressed in any 
living language.'^ 

"However great may have been the corruptions 
in the theologies and priests of paganism, there is 
nothing in their records which can be compared 
with the depravity of those of the Church of Eorae. 
Before the day on which the theology of Rome 

* Father Chiniquy's famous works entitled, "Fifty 
Years In the Church of Eome" (832 pages, price $2.50, 
prepaid); "The Priest, the Woman, and the Confes- 
sional" (300 pages, price $1.10, prepaid), can be ob- 
tained from de Laurence, Scott & Co., 1514 Masonic 
Temple, Chicago, 111., U. S. A. See advertisement on 
last pages of this book. 

508 




















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 509 

was inspired by Satan, the world had certainly 
witnessed many dark deeds; but vice had never 
been clothed with the mantle of theology : — the 
most shameful forms of iniquity had never been 
publicly taught in the schools of the old pagan 
priest, under the pretext of saving the world." 

"No, neither had the priests or the idols been 
forced to attend meetings where the most degrad- 
ing forms of iniquity were objects of the most mi- 
nute stud}', and that under the pretext of glorify- 
ing God. Let those who understand Latin read 
the pages which I give at the end of my book, "The 
Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional," and 
then decide as to whether or not the sentiments 
therein contained are not enough to shock the feel- 
ings of the most depraved. And let it be remem- 
bered that all those abominations have to be 
studied, learned by heart and thoroughly under- 
stood by men who have to make a vow never to 
marry. For it is not till after his vow of celibacy 
that the student in theology is initiated into those 
mysteries of inquity." 

"Has the world ever witnessed such a sacrilegious 
comedy? A young man about twenty years of age 
has been enticed to make a vow of perpetual celi- 
bacy, and the very next day the Church of Rom^e 
puts under the eye of his soul the most infamovs 
spectacle. She fills his memory with the most dis- 
gusting images. She tickles all his senses and pol- 
lutes his ears not by imaginary representations, but 
by realities ivhich ivould shock the most abandoned 
in vice.'' 

"For, let it be well understood, that it is abso- 
lutely impossible for one to study those questions 



















nm 







GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

of Eoman Theology, and fathom those forms of 
iniquity without having his body as well as his 
mind plunged into a state the most degrading. 
Moreover, Eome does not even try to conceal the 
overwhelming power of this kind of teaching; she 
does not even attempt to make it a secret from 
the victims of her incomparable depravity, but 
BEAVELY TELLS them that the study of those 
questions will act with an irresistible power upon 
those organs, and without a blush says ''that pollu' 
Hon must follow. . . ." 

''But in order that the Church of Rome may 
more certainly destroy her victims, and that they 
may not escape from the abyss which she has dug 
under their feet, she tells them "There is no sin 
for you in those Pollutions f' — (Dens, Vol. L, p. 
315.) 

"But Eome must bewitch, so as the better to se- 
cure their destruction. She puts to their lips the 
cup of her enchantments, the more certainly to kill 
their souls, dethrone God from their consciences, 
and abrogate His eternal laws of holiness. What 
answer does Eome give those who reproach her 
with the awful impurity of her theology ? "My the- 
ological works," she answers, "are all written in 
Latin; the people cannot read them.'^ But this 
answer is a miserable subterfuge." 

"Is this not the public acknowledgment that her 
theology would be exceedingly injurious to the 
people if it were read and understood by them ? By 
saying, "My theological works are written in 
Latin; therefore the people cannot be defiled, as 
they do not understand them," Eome does ac- 
knowledge that these works would only act as a 





















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 511 

pestilence among the people were they read and 
understood by them." 

"But are not the one hundred thousand priests 
of Eome bound to explain in every known tongue 
and present to the mind of every nation the theol- 
ogy contained in those books ? Are they not bound 
to make every polluting sentence in them flow into 
the ears, imagination, hearts and minds of all the 
married and unmarried women whom Eome holds 
in her grasp ?" 

*'I exaggerate nothing when I say that not fewer 
than half a million women every day are com- 
pelled to hear in their own language, almost every 
polluting sentence and impure notion of the dia- 
bolical science. And here I challenge, most fear- 
lessly, the Church of Rome to deny what I say, 
when I state that the daily average of women who 
go to confession to each priest, is ten. But let u^ 
reduce the numher to five.'' 

''Then the two hundred thousand priests who 
are scattered over the whole world, hear the con- 
fessions of one million women every day. Well, 
out of one hundred women who confess, there are 
at least ninety-nine whom the priest is hound in 
conscience to pollute, hy questioning them on the 
matters mentioned in 'The Priest, the Woman and 
Confessional.' How can one he surprised at the 
rapid downfall of the nations who are under the 
yoke of the Pope." 

"The public statistics of the European, as well 
as of American nations, show that there is among 
Roman Catholics nearly double the amount of 
prostitution, bastardy, theft, perjury and murder 
that is found among Protestant nations. Where 






















512 GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

must we, then, look for the cause of those stupen- 
dous facts, if not in the corrupt teaching of the 
theology of Rome. How can the Eoman Catholic 
nations hope to raise themselves in the scale of 
Christian dignity and morality as long as there 
remain two hundred thousand priests in their 
midst, bound in conscience ever}^ day to pollute the 
minds and the hearts of their mothers, their wives 
and their daughters/' 

"And here let me say, once for all, that I am not 
induced to speak as I do from any motive of con- 
tempt or unchristian feeling against the theological 
professors who have initiated me into those mys- 
teries of iniquity. The Eev. Messrs. Eaimbault 
and Leprohon were, and in my mind they still 
are, as venerable as men can be in the Church of 
Eome. As I have been myself, and as all the 
priests of Eome are, they were plunged into the 
abyss without understanding it, into the abyss of 
the most stolid ignorance. They were crushed, as 
I was myself, under a yoke which bound their un- 
derstanding to the dust and polluted their hearts 
without measure. We were embarked together on 
a ship, the first appearance of which was really 
magnificent, but the bottom of which was irreme- 
diably rotten." 

"Without the true Pilot on board we were left 
to perish on unknown shoals. Out of this sinking 
ship the hand of God alone, in His merciful prov- 
idence, rescued me. I pity those friends of my 
youth, but despise them ? hate them ? ISTo. Never. 
Never. Every time our theological teacher gave us 
our lessons, it was evident that they blushed in 
the inmost part of their souls. Their consciences 







1 — f^ 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 513 

as honest men were evidently forbidding them, on 
the one hand, to open their mouths on such mat- 
ters, while on the other hand, as slaves and priests 
of the Pope, they were compelled to speak without 
reserve." 

"After our lessons in theology, we students used 
to be filled with such a sentiment of shame that 
sometimes we hardly dared to look at each other; 
and, when alone in our rooms, those horrible pic- 
tures were affecting our hearts, in spite of our- 
selves, as the rust affects and corrodes the hardest 
and purest steel. More than one of my fellow-stu- 
dents told me, with tears of shame and rage, that 
they regretted to have bound themselves by perpet- 
ual oaths to minister at the altars of the Church." 

"One day one of the students, called Desaulnier, 
who was sick in the same room with me, asked 
me : ^Chiniquy, what do you think of the matters 
which are the objects of our present theological 
studies? Is it not a burning shame that we must 
allow our minds to be so polluted ?' 'I cannot suf- 
ficiently tell you my feelings of disgust,' I an- 
swered. ^Had I known sooner that we were to be 
dragged over such a ground, I certainly never 
would have nailed my future to the banners under 
which we are irrevocably bound to live.' " 

" 'Do you know,' said Desaulnier, 'that I am de- 
termined never to consent to be ordained a priest ; 
for when I think of the fact that the priest is 
bound to confer with women on all these polluting 
matters, I feel an insurmountable disgust and 
shame.' 'I am not less troubled,' I replied. '^ly 
head aches and my heart sinks within me, when I 
hear our theologians telling us that we will be in 























conscience bound to speak to females on these im- 
pure subjects/ " 

"But sometimes this looks to me as if it were a 
bad dream, the impure phantoms of which will dis- 
appear at the first awakening. Our Church, which 
is so pure and holy, that she can only be served 
by the spotless virgins, surely cannot compel us to 
pollute our lips, thoughts, soul, and even our 
bodies, by speaking to strange women on matters 
so defiling/ 'But we are near the hour at which 
the good Mr. Leprohon is in the habit of visiting 
as.^ '' 

" 'Will you,' said I, 'promise to stand by me on 
what I shall ask him on this subject? I hope to 
get from him a pledge that we will not be com- 
pelled to he polluted in the confessional by the 
women who will confess to us. The purity and 
holiness of our superior is of such a high character 
that I am sure he has never said a word to females 
on those degrading matters. In spite of all the 
theologians, Mr. Leprohon will allow us to keep 
our tongues and our hearts, as well as our bodies, 
pure in the confessional.' 'I have had the desire 
to speak to him on this subject for some time,' re- 
joined Desaulnier, 'but my courage failed me every 
time I attempted to do so." 

" 'I am glad, therefore, that you are to break the 
ice, and I will certainly support you, as I have a 
longing desire to know something more in regard 
to the mysteries of the confessional. If we be at 
liberty never to speak to women on those horrors, 
I will consent to serve the Church as a priest; but 
if not, I WILL NEVEE BE A PRIEST.' " 

"A few minutes after this our superior entered, 

















to kindly inquire how we had rested the night 
before. Having thanked him for his kindness, I 
opened the volumes of Dens and Liguori, which 
were on the table, and, with a blush, putting my 
fingers on one of the famous chapters referred to, I 
said to him: 

" ^After God, you have the first place in my 
heart since my mother's death, and you know it. I 
take you, not only as my benefactor, but also, as it 
were, as my father and mother. You will, there- 
fore, tell me all I want to know in these my hours 
of anxiety, through which God is pleased to make 
me pass. To follow your advice, not to say your 
commands, I have lately consented to receive the 
order of sub-deacon, and have in consequence taken 
the vow of perpetual celibacy." 

" ^But I will not conceal the fact from you that 
I had not a clear understanding of what I was 
then doing; and Delsaulnier has just stated to me 
that until recently he had no more idea of the na- 
ture of that promise, nor of the difficulties which 
we now see ahead of us in our priestly life, than I 
had. But Dens, Liguori and St. Thomas have 
given us notions quite new in regard to many 
things." 

" ^They have directed our minds to the knowl- 
edge of the laws which are in us, as well as in 
every other child of Adam. They have, in a word, 
directed our minds into regions which were quite 
new and unexplored by us ; and I dare say that 
every one of those whom we have known, whether 
in this house or elsewhere, who have made the same 
vow, could tell the same tale." 

"'However, I do not speak for them; I speak 
























GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 

only for myself and Delsaulnier. For God's sake, 
please tell us if we will be bound in conscience to 
speak in the confessional, to the married and un- 
married females, on such impure and defiling ques- 
tions as are contained in the theologians before 
us?'" 

" *Most undoubtedly,' replied Eev. Mr. Lepro- 
hon; "^because the learned and holy theologians 
whose writings are in your hands are positive on 
that question. It is absolutely necessary that you 
should question your female penitents on such 
matters ; for, as a general thing, girls and married 
women are too timid to confess those sins, of 
which they are even more frequently guilty than 
men; therefore, they must be helped by question- 
ing them.' " 

Let my reader consider what an insult 
this is to all womankind, that is, the in- 
formal and cold blooded statement that 
they are more frequently guilty than men 

and should be forced or inveigled by a so- 
called Father to confess even, if it is neces- 
sary for the priest to wheedle the confes- 
sion out of them under the cloak of re- 
ligion. It is thus that we find it between 
the Priest and married women, and young 
girls still in their teens ; who are subjected 
to the Theological ^^ Sweat Box " of the 
Church of Eome until they confess. 

Father Chiniquy's famous work, ** Fifty 



H-^'V — K 






















■^r-nf^ 



a:^d chetstiax theology 517 

Years in the Church of Rome," pages 664, 
665, 666j 667, contains this: — 

Here is the sworn declaration of Miss 
Philomene Moffat, now Mrs. Philomene 
Schwartz : 

''State of Illinois, CooTc County, ss. 

"Philomene Schwartz, being duly STVorn, deposes and 
says: That she is of the age of forty-three years, and 
resides at 484 Alilvraukee Avenue, Chicago; that her 
maiden name was Philomene Moftat, that she knew 
Father LeBelle, the Eoman Catholic priest of the French 
Catholics of Chicago, during his lifetime, and knows Kev. 
Father Chiniquy; that about the month of May, A. D. 
1854, in company with Miss Eugenia Bossey, the house- 
keeper of her uncle, the Eev. Mr. LeBelle, who was then 
living at the parsonage on Clark Street, Chicago, while 
we were sitting in the room of Miss Bossey, the Eev. 
Mr. LeBelle was talking with his sister, Mrs. Bossey, 
in the adjoining room, not suspecting that we were there 
hearing his conversation through the door, which was 
partly opened; though we could neither see him nor his 
sister, we heard every word of what they said together, 
the substance of which is as follows: Eev. Mr. LeBelle 
said in substance to Mrs. Bossey, his sister: 

" 'You know that Mr. Chiniquy is a dangerous man, 
and he is my enemy, having already persuaded several of 
my congregation to settle in his colony. You must help 
me to put him dowm by accusing him of having tried to 
do a criminal action with you.' Madame Bossey an- 
swered: 'I cannot say such a thing against Mr. Chin- 
iquy, when 1 know it is absolutely false.' 

"Eev. M. LeBelle replied: 'If you refuse to comply 
with my request, I will not give you the one hundred and 
sixty acres of land I intended to give you; you will live 
and die poor.' Madame Bossey answered: 'I prefer 
never to have that land, and I like better to live and die 
poor than to perjure myself to please you.' The Eev. 
Mr. LeBelle, several times, urged his sister, Mrs. Bossey, 
to comply with his desires, but she refused. 

"At last, weeping and crying, she said: 'I prefer never 
























518 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



to have an inch of land than to damn my soul for swear- 
ing to a falsehood.' 

"The Eev. Mr. LeBelle then said: 'Mr. Chiniquy will 
destroy our holy religion and our people if we do not de- 
stroy him. If you think that the swearing I ask you to 
do is a sin, you will come to confess to me, and I will 
pardon it in the absolution I will give you.' 

"'Have you the power to forgive a false oath?' re- 
plied Mrs. Bossey, to her brother, the priest. 'Yes,' he 
answered, 'I have that power; for Christ has said to all 
his priests, "What you shall bind on earth shall be bound 
in heaven, and what you shall loose on earth shall be 
loosed in heaven," ' 

"Mrs. Bossey then said: 'If you promise that you will 
forgive that false oath, and if you give me the one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land you promised, I will do what 
you want.' The Eev. Mr. LeBelle then said: 'All right.' 
I could not hear any more of that conversation, for in 
that instant Miss Eugenia Bossey, who had kept still and 
silent with us, made some noise and shut the door. 

"Affiant further states: That some time later I went 
to confess to Eev. Mr. LeBelle, and I told him that I 
had lost confidence in him. He asked me why. I an- 
swered: 'I lost my confidence in you since I heard 
your conversation with your sister, when you tried to 
persuade her to perjure herself in order to destroy Father 
Chiniquy.' 

"Affiant further says: That in the month of October, 
A. D. 1856, the Eev. Mr. Chiniquy had to defend him- 
self, before the civil and criminal court of Urbana, Illi- 
nois, in an action brought against him by Peter Spink; 
someone wrote from Urbana to a paper of Chicago, that 
Father Chiniquy was probably to be condemned. 

"The paper which published that letter was much read 
by the Eoman Catholics, who were glad to hear that that 
priest was to be punished. Among those who read that 
paper was Narcisse Terrien. He had lately been married 
to Miss Sara Chaussey, who told him that Father Chin- 
iquy was innocent; that she was present with me when 
Eev. LeBelle prepared the plot with his sister, Mrs. Bos- 
sey, and had promised her a large piece of land if she 
would swear falsely against Father Chiniquy. 

"Mr. Narcisse Terrien wanted to go with his wife to 















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 519 













the help of Father Chiniquy, but she was unwell and 
could not go. He came to ask me if I remembered well 
the conversation of Eev. Mr. LeBelle, and if 1 would con- 
sent to go to Urbana to expose the whole plot before 
the court, and I consented. We started that same even- 
ing for Urbana, where we arrived late at night. I im- 
mediately met Mr. Abraham Lincoln, one of the lawyers 
of Father Chiniquy, and told him all that I knew about 
the plot. 

"That very same night the Kev. Mr. LeBelle, having 
seen my name on the hotel register, came to me much 
excited and troubled, and said: 'Philomene, what are 
you here for?' I answered him, 'I cannot exactly tell; 
you will probably know^ it tomorrow at the court-house.' 
'Oh, wretched girl, you have come to destroy me.' 'I do 
not come to destroy you,' I replied, 'for you are already 
destroyed.' 

"Then, drawing from his portmonnaie-book a big 
bundle of bank-notes, which he said was worth one hun- 
dred dollars, he said: 'I will give you all this money 
if you will leave by the morning train and go back to 
Chicago.' I answered him: 'Though you would offer 
me as much gold as this room can contain, I cannot do 
what you ask.' 

''He then seemed exceedingly distressed, and he dis- 
appeared. The next morning Peter Spink requested the 
court to allow him to withdraw his accusations against 
Father Chiniquy, who was innocent of the things brought 
against him and his request was granted. Then the inno- 
cence and honesty of Father Chiniquy was acknowledged 
by the court after it had been proclaimed by Abraham 
Lincoln, who was afterwards elected President of the 
United States. 

"(Signed) Philomene Schwartz."* 

"I, Stephen E. Moore, a Notary Public in the County 
of Kankakee, in the State of Illinois, and duly author- 
ized by law to administer oaths, do hereby certify that, 
on this 21st day of October, A. D. 1881, Philomene 

* That lady is still living, 1886, and at the head of 
one of the most respectable families of Chicago, residing 
at 484 Milwaukee Avenue. 






















520 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



Schwartz personally appeared before me, and made oath 
that the above affidavit by her subscribed is true, as 
therein stated. In witness whereto I have hereto set my 
hand and notarial seal. 

"Stephen E. Moore, 

"Notary Public." 



THE ROMAN PRIESTS OF THE WAFER GODS. 

Tlie Roman Priests of the Wafer Gods, with 
their moch celibacy, with their soul-destroying 
Auricular Confession, and their idols are described 
as follows by Father Chiniquy in his ivell written 
work, ''Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" {page 
379) : 

"The people of Detroit, Michigan, have not yet 
forgotten that amiable priest who was the con- 
fessor, 'a la mode,' of the young and old Eoman 
Catholic ladies. They all remember still, the 
dark night during which he left for Belgium, with 
one of his most beautiful penitents, and $4,000 
which he had taken from the purse of his Bishop 
Lefebvre, to pay his traveling expenses. And who, 
in that same city of Detroit, does not still sympa- 
thize with that young doctor whose beautiful wife 
eloped with her father confessor, in order, we must 
charitably suppose, to be more benefited when in 
the constant company of her spiritual and holy (?) 
physician. 

"Let my readers come with me to Bourbonnais 
Grove, and there, every one will show them the 
son whom the Priest Courjeault had from one of 
his fair penitents. 

"Weak-kneed Protestants ! who are constantly 
speaking of peace, peace, with Eome, and who keep 

























AND CHEISTIAN THEOLOGY 521 

yourselves humbly prostrated at their feet, in order 
to sell them your wares, or get their suffrages, do 
you not understand your supreme degradation ? 

"Do not answer to us that these are exceptional 
cases, for I am ready to prove that this unspeaka- 
ble degradation and immorality are the normal 
state of the greater part of the priests of Rome. 
Father Hyacinthe has publicly declared, that nine- 
ty-nine out of one hundred of them live in sin 
with the females they have destroyed. And not 
only the common priests are, for the greater part, 
sunk in that bottomless pit of secret or public 
infamy, but the bishops and popes, with the cardi- 
nals, are no better. 

"\Yho does not know the history of that interest- 
ing young girl of Armidale, Australia, who, lately, 
confessed to her distracted parents that her seducer 
had been no less than a bishop ! And when the 
enraged father prosecuted the bishop for damages, 
is it not a public fact that he got £350 from the 
Pope's bishop, with the condition that he would 
emigrate with his family, to San Francisco, where 
this great iniquity might be concealed ! But, un- 
fortunately for the criminal confessor, the girl 
gave birth to a little bishop before she left, and I 
can give the name of the priest who baptized the 
child of his own holy (?) and venerable (?) 
bishop. 

"Will the people of Australia ever forget the 
history of Father Xihills, who was condemned to 
three years in the penitentiary, for an unmention- 
able crime with one of his penitents? 

"This brings to my mind the deplorable end of 
Father Cahill, who cut his own throat not long 






















522 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



ago, in New England, to escape the prosecution of 
the beautiful girl whom he had seduced. Who has 
not heard of that grand Yicar of Boston, who, 
about three years ago, poisoned himself to escape 
the sentence which was to be hurled against him 
the very next day, by the Supreme Court, for hav- 
ing seduced one of his fair penitents ? 

"Has not all France been struck with horror and 
confusion at the declarations made by the noble 
Catherine Cadiere and her numerous young female 
friends, against their father confessor, the Jesuit, 
John B. Girard ? The details of the villainies prac- 
ticed by that holy (?) father confessor and his 
coadjutors, with their fair penitents, are such, that 
no Christian pen can retrace them, and no Chris- 
tion reader would consent to have them put before 
his eyes. 

"If this chapter was not already long enough, I 
could say how Father Achazius, superior of a nun- 
nery in Duren, France, used to sanctify the young 
and old ladies who confessed to him. The num- 
ber of his victims was so great, and their ranks 
in society so exalted, that Napoleon thought it was 
his duty to take that scandalous affair before him. 

"The way this holy (?) father confessor used 
to lead the noble girls, married women, and nuns, 
of the territory of Aix-la-Chapelle, was revealed by 
a young nun who had escaped from the snares of 
the priest, and married a superior officer in the 
army of the Emperor of France. Her husband 
thought it his duty to direct the attention, of Na- 
poleon to the performances of that priest, through 
the confessional. But the investigations which 














AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 523 













were directed by the State Counsellor, Le Clerq, 
and the Professor Gall, were compromising so 
many other priests, and so many ladies in the high- 
est ranks of society, that the Emperor was abso- 
lutely disheartened, and feared that their exposure 
before the whole of France would cause the people 
to renew the awful slaughters of 1792 and 1793, 
when thirty thousand priests, monks and nuns, had 
been mercilessly hung, or shot dead, as the most 
implacable enemies of public morality and liberty. 
In those days, that ambitious man was in need of 
the priests to forge the fetters by which the people 
of France would be securely tied to the wheels of 
his chariot. 

"He abruptly ordered the court of investigation 
to stop the inquiry, under the pretext of saving the 
honor of so many families, whose single and mar- 
ried females had been seduced bv their confessors. 
He thought that prudence and shame were urging 
him not to lift up more of the dark and thick veil, 
behind which the confessors conceal their hellish 
practices with their fair penitents. He found it 
was enough to confine Father Achazius and his co- 
priests in a dungeon for their lives. 

'^But if we turn our eyes from the humble con- 
feseor priests to the monsters whom the Church of 
Eome adore as the vicars of Jesus Christ — the 
supreme Pontiffs — the Popes, do we not find hor- 
rors and abominations, scandals and infamies 
which surpass everything which is done by the 
common priests Dehind the impure curtains of the 
confessional-box ? 

"Does not Cardinal Baronius himself tell us that 






















the world has never seen anything comparable to 
the impurities and unmentionable vices of a great 
number of popes? 

^'Do not the annals of the Church of Kome give 
us the history of that celebrated prostitute of Eome, 
Marozia, who lived in public concubinage with the 
Pope Sergius III., whom she raised to the so- 
called chair of St. Peter? Had she not also, by 
that Pope, a son, of whom she also made a pope 
after the death of his holy (?) father, Pope Ser- 
gius ? 

"Did not the same Marozia and her sister, Theo- 
dora, put on the pontifical throne another one of 
their lovers, under the name of Anastasius III., 
who was soon followed by John X. ? And is it not 
a public fact, that that pope having lost the confi- 
dence of his concubine Marozia, was strangled by 
her order ? Is it not also a fact of public notoriety, 
that his follower, Leo VI., was assassinated by her 
for having given his heart to another woman, still 
more degraded? 

"The son whom Marozia had by Pope Sergius 
was elected pope, by the influence of his mother, 
under the name of John XI., when not sixteen 
years old ! But having quarreled with some of 
the enemies of his mother, he was beaten and sent 
to gaol, where he was poisoned and died. 

"In the year 936, the grandson of the prostitute 
Marozia, after several bloody encounters with his 
opponents, succeeded in taking possession of the 
pontifical throne under the name of John XII. 
But his vices and scandals became so intolerable, 
that the learned and celebrated Eoman Catholic 
Bishop of Cremorne, Luitprand, says of him: — 






nm 



















'No honest lady dared to show herself in public, 
for the Pope John had no respect either for single 
girls, married women, or widows — they were sure 
to be defiled by him, even on the tombs of the holy 
apostles, Peter and Paul. 

^'That same John XII. was instantly killed by 
a gentleman, who found him committing the act 
of adultery with his wife. 

"It is a well-known fact that Pope Boniface VII. 
had caused John Xl\. to be imprisoned and pois- 
oned, and when he soon after died, the people of 
Eome dragged his naked body through the streets, 
and left it, when horril^ly mutilated, to be eaten by 
dogs, if a few priests had not secretly buried him. 

"Let the readers study the history of the cele- 
brated Council of Constance, called to put an end 
to the great schism, during which three popes, and 
sometimes four, were every morning cursing each 
other and calling their opponents Antichrists, de- 
mons, adulterers, sodomists, murderers, enemies of 
God and man. 

"As every one of them was an infallible pope, 
according to the last Council of the Vatican, we 
are bound to believe that they were correct in the 
compliments they paid to each other. 

"One of these holy ( ?) popes, John XXIIL, 
having appeared before the Council to give an ac- 
count of his conduct, he was proved by thirty- 
seven witnesses, the greater part of whom were 
bishops and priests, of having been guilty of forni- 
cation, adultery, incest, sodomy, simony, theft, and 
murder. It was proved also by a legion of wit- 
nesses, that he had seduced and violated 300 nuns. 
His own secretary, Xiem, said that he had at 

























526 



GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 



Boulogne, kept a harem, where not less than 200 
girls had been the victims of his lubricity. 

"And what could we not say of Alexander VI. ? 
That monster who lived in public incest with his 
two sisters and his own daughter Lucretia, from 
whom he got a child. 

"But I stop — I blush to be forced to repeat such 
things. I would never have mentioned them were 
it not necessary not only to put an end to the inso- 
lence and the pretensions of the priests of Rome, 
but also to make the Protestants remember why 
their heroic fathers have made such great sacrifices 
and fought so many battles, shed their purest blood 
and even died, in order to break the fetters by 
which they were bound to the feet of the priests 
and the popes of Eome. 

"Let not my readers be deceived by the idea that 
the popes of Eome in our days, are much better 
than those of the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth 
centuries. They are absolutely the same — the only 
difference is that, to-day, they take a little more 
care to conceal their secret orgies. For they know 
well, that the modern nations, enlightened as they 
are, by the light of the Bible, would not tolerate 
the infamies of their predecessors ; they would hurl 
them very soon into the Tiber, if they dared to re- 
peat in the open day, the scenes of which the Alex- 
anders, Stephens, Johns, &c., &c., were the heroes. 

"Go to Italy, and there the Eoman Catholics 
themselves will show you the two beautiful daugh- 
ters whom the last pope, Pius IX., had from two 
of his mistresses. They will tell you, too, the 
names of five other mistresses — three of them 



m 
















AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 527 













nuns — he had when a priest and a bishop ; some of 
them are still living. 

"Inquire from those who have personally known 
Pope Gregory XVI., the predecessor of Pius IX., 
and after they will have given you the history of 
his mistresses, one of whom was the wife of his 
barber, they will tell you that he was one of the 
greatest drunkards in Italy ! 

"Who has not heard of the bastard, whom Cardi- 
nal Antonelli had from Countess Lambertini ? Has 
not the suit of that illegitimate child of the great 
cardinal secretary filled Italy and the whole world 
with shame and disgust ? 

"However, nobody can be surprised that the 
priests, the bishops, and the popes of Rome are 
sunk into such a bottomless abyss of infamy, when 
we remember that they are nothing else than the 
successors of the priests of Bacchus and Jupiter. 
For not only have they inherited their powers, but 
they have even kept their very robes and mantles 
on their shoulders, and their caps on their heads. 
Like the priests of Bacchus, the priests of the Pope 
are bound never to marry, by the impious and god- 
less laws of celibacy. For every one knows that 
the priests of Bacchus were, as the priests of Rome, 
celibates. But, like the priests of the Pope, the 
priests of Bacchus, to console themselves for the 
restraints of celibacy, had invented auricular con- 
fession. Through the secret confidences of the con- 
fessional, the priests of the old idols, as well as 
those of the newly-invented wafer gods, knew who 
were strong and weak among their fair penitents, 
and under the veil "of the sacred mysteries," dur- 













GOD, THE BIBLE, TEUTH, 














ing the night celebration of their diabolical mys- 
teries, they knew to whom they should address 
themselves, and make their vows of celibacy an easy 
yoke. 

"Let those who w^ant more information on that 
subject read the poems of Juvenal, Propertius, and 
Tibellus. Let them peruse all the historians of old 
Rome, and they Vv^ill see the perfect resemblance 
which exists between the priests of the Pope and 
those of Bacchus, in reference to the vows of celi- 
bacy, the secrets of auricular confession, celebra- 
tion of the so-called ^sacred mysteries,' and the un- 
mentionable moral corruption of the two systems 
of religion. In fact, when one reads the poems of 
Juvenal, he thinks he has before him the books of 
bens, Liguori, Lebreyne, Kenrick. 

"Let us hope and pray that the day may soon 
come when God will look in His mercy upon this 
perishing world ; and then, the priests of the wafer- 
gods, with their mock celibacy, their soul-destroy- 
ing auricular confession and their idols will be 
swept away. 

"In that day Babylon — the great Babylon, will 
fall, and heaven and earth shall rejoice. 

"For the nations will no more go and quench 
their thirst at the impure cisterns dug for them by 
the man of sin. But they will go and wash their 
robes in the blood of the Lamb; and the Lamb 
will make them pure by His blood, and free by His 
word. Amen." 

The End. 














PART FIVE 













As We Eead About Them Today in the Press. 



There have been statements and charges made 
in this book against the minister and the church; 
to show that these are true it is only necessary to 
read this appendix, 

PASTOR SENT TO JAIL ON 

PONTIAC GIEL^S CHARGE 

The Rev. H. H. Goodin Sentenced to an Inde- 
terminate Sentence. 

Pontiac, 111., Dec. 28.— The Rev. H H. Goodin, 
the Baptist minister who was arrested in a hotel 
in Chicago with 15-year-old Anna Blanch Edging- 
ton, of this city, was this afternoon sentenced to 
the penitentiary at Joliet by Judge Patton in the 
Circuit Court to an indeterminate sentence, not 
less than one year nor more than ten. Goodin 
expressed his desire to plead guilty to the charge 
of abduction, should a special grand jury be called. 
The judge ordered a special grand jury. "I wish 
to plead guilty," said Mr. Goodin. The judge 
then sentenced him to the penitentiary, after which 

531 






















he was removed to the county jail. He will be 
taken to Joliet later in the week to begin his sen- 
tence. — Chicago Examiner, Dec. 29 1908, 



PASTOE IDENTIFIED 

AS WIFE DESEETER 

San Francisco Man Connected with Edna 
Clark Disappearance Being Investigated. 

Another chapter has been added to the story of 
the mysterious disappearance from San Francisco 
last fall of Miss Edna Clark, a pretty art student 
who was afterward located in Chicago at the Paul- 
ist Day Nursery in Eldredge place. 

The new chapter is the discovery that the Eev. 
Payson Young, rector of the fashionable Episcopal 
Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco, 
whose name was brought into the Clark case, and 
who was thought to have some knowledge of her 
whereabouts, is none other than Patrick J. Lyons, 
a former East Boston fisherman. What is more, 
the Eev. Mr. Young has been identified as the 
man who deserted a young wife and three children 
in Boston in 1895. 

Miss Clark, at the time she was found in Chi- 
cago, exonerated the minister from any blame in 
connection with her disappearance. She said she 
knew him, but denied vehemently that she had 
any intention of marrying him, as had been stated. 
She denied also that the rector ever had kissed 
her, or that she ever had sat on his lap in the 
church study. 






















Notwithstanding the denials made by the young 
woman, the tongue of gossip was not stilled, and 
some revelations of the minister's past, published 
in San Francisco, caused Walter Lyons, of East 
Boston, to make a trip to San Francisco. 

Now, dispatches from the East say, the Rev. 
Mr. Young has admitted to Walter Lyons that he 
is his father. 

Investigations in California showed that the 
Rev. Mr. Young had been granted a divorce in 
Santa Cruz, and that in his petition for divorce 
he had admitted that he had been married in Bos- 
ton in 1887 under the name of "Patrick J. Lyons." 

When his long-lost and deserted son first called 
to see his father in San Francisco the latter re- 
fused to admit him. Later he acknowledged his 
paternity. An investigation of the Rev. Mr. 
Young's conduct is under way in San Francisco 
under orders from his bishop. — Chicago Examiner, 
March 29, 1909. 



REWARD IS OFFERED FOR PREACHER AS 
SLAYER; SUICIDE IS SUSPECTED. 

Motive Lacking for Michigan Church Mys- 
tery, BUT Family Insanity Is Theory — Vic- 
tim's Teeth Identified — Fatal Appoint- 
ment OF Carmichael with Neighbor Known 
to Many. 

Port Huron, Mich., Jan. 8. — The Rev. John 
Haviland Carmichael, for nearly thirty years a 
prominent figure in the affairs of the Methodist 















m 










Episcopal Church in Michigan, a man looked up 
to and respected in this section of the state, where 
he has lived and labored for so long, tonight stands 
formally charged with a revolting murder. A price 
has been put on his head. 

The Methodist minister of Adair, a hamlet a 
few miles south of this city, is charged by the 
prosecuting attorney and the sheriff of St. Clair 
County with having lured Gideon Browning, his 
next door neighbor and a simple, trusting soul, to 
a lonely church near Columbus and murdering 
him after a desperate struggle, and with dismem- 
bering the body of his victim and burning it in a 
stove in the church. — Chicago Examiner, 1909. 



TEMPEST ENDS CHUKCH TRIAL. 

Tar and Feathers Suggested for Jurors in 
THE Lavender Case — Open Verdict Is Pre- 
sented — Charges Are Dropped, but $50,000 
Is Offered to Back Civil Suit. 

Trial of Mrs. Mary A. Lavender on charges of 
immorality came to an abrupt and tempestuous 
ending yesterday, following the withdrawal of the 
charges by the Eev. E. B. Crawford and the Rev. 
W. E. Tilroe. 

Bitter public denunciation of the ministers who 
brought the charges and later dropped them, 
threats of tar and feathers by a mob of excited 
women, and the offer of $50,000 to fight the mat- 
ter out in the civil courts followed the refusal of 
the church jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty. 























Woodlawn Methodist church was crowded to tlie 
doors when the last session of the trial began. 
There were about eighty women present, the vast 
majority of them in obvious sympathy with Mrs. 
Lavender. At least a score of women from West- 
ern Avenue Methodist church were present, drawn 
by their interest in the Rev. John D. Leek, who 
was involved in the charges. 

The Eev. A. T. Horn, in opening the court, 
caustically denounced as "intruders" all those who 
were present except as counsel, witnesses, or jurors. 
He said the session was supposed to be executive, 
and as the majority of those present were not inti- 
mately connected with the case they had no right 
to be there. Whereupon he suggested that the "in- 
truders" leave. Every woman held her place, and 
said "just wait." 

VERDICT RAISES A TEMPEST. 

He then read the verdict of the jury, a simple 
statement that the charges had been withdrawn by 
Dr. Crawford and the Rev. W. E. Tilroe, and that 
therefore there was "no disciplinary warrant for 
further proceedings." Seth F. Crews, attorney 
for Mrs. Lavender, demanded that Dr. Horn also 
sign the withdrawal of the charges, and he did so. 

But when he demanded that the jury bring in 
a verdict of "not guilty" or of acquittal, Dr. Horn 
interrupted him to declare that the jurors had re- 
fused to bring in any such verdict. They had con- 
sidered well, he said, and had brought in the ver- 
dict that appeared to them to fit the case and the 
circumstances. 

At this the lightnings began to flash and the 
























thunders to roll, presaging the storm. Women 
stood up here and there and began to say things. 
Cries of "Shame !" and "Cowards l" arose. Mr. 
Crews began an impassioned speech, setting forth 
the grievances of Mrs. Lavender and her demands 
for a hearing of the charges and a verdict of guilty 
or not guilty thereon. Dr. Horn brought matters 
to a crisis in the midst of the growing confusion 
by adjourning the court sine die. 

WOMEN VOICE THEIR INDIGNATION". 

The meeting broke up, and all chance of fur- 
ther consideration of Mrs. Lavender's claims was 
destroyed, but Dr. Horn had brought the deluge 
on himself and his companions. 

One gray haired woman walked up to Dr. Craw- 
ford and shouted: 

"Thank the Lord, no one like you is pastor of 
my church !'' 

"They ought to be tarred and feathered !" called 
another. "Haven't any of the men got the nerve 
to get the materials?'^ 

"This is an outrage ! There has been no Chris- 
tian spirit shown here," cried Attorney Crews. 

"We won't stand it !" cried several feminine 
voices. 

Drs. Crawford, Tilroe and Horn hurried from 
the room. Just as they were leaving the church 
they came face to face with Attorney Crews. 

"This is a foul conspiracy," he said to them. "It 
is cowardly to turn Mrs. Lavender away from here 
with no decision having been announced, with no 
opportunity given her to disprove the infamous 
charges made by you men." 

"The charges are withdrawn and there is noth- 
























ing more to be done," was Dr. Horn's calm reply. 
The others said nothing. 

"You are a disgrace to the church," continued 
Mr. Crews. "I don't see how you have the nerve 
to meet and preach to your congregations." 

$50,000 TO BACK CIVIL SUIT. 

The most startling result of the withdrawal of 
the charges without their retraction was the offer 
of Dr. H. Claflin, a former member of the official 
board of the church, to back Mrs. Lavender to the 
extent of $50,000 in the prosecution of a civil suit 
against Dr. Crawford. 

Mrs. Lavender refused to state last night 
whether she had accepted Dr. Claflin's offer, but 
admitted there was considerable more than a pos- 
sibility of a resort to the secular courts to obtain 
the vindication denied her by the court of her 
church. 

Before the trial she characterized the action of 
the prosecution in withdrawing charges without 
retracting them or giving her an opportunity to 
disprove them as "cowardly," and declared that if 
her accusers attempted to "sneak out" that way 
she would resort to law. 

The formal document of withdrawal states that 
the action was taken because of "the heated and 
poisoned condition of the public mind, an intoler- 
able situation affecting both vital testimony and 
the trial itself, and the inevitable disaster to pub- 
lic morals and the interests of the church." 

SARCASTIC COMMENT ON" VERDICT. 

A member of the church sarcastically pointed 
out that these altruistic reasons had not been 
























thought of by the prosecutors until the court had 
ruled that they must specify the time and place of 
the alleged offenses. 

The only consolation for Mrs. Lavender lies in 
the last sentence of the withdrawal. It reads: 

"Some things may be safely left with a kindly 
Providence that rules the affairs of men." 

Members of the Woodlawn church discussed 
plans for getting rid of their pastor before the 
convening of the Eock Eiver conference, next fall. 
Members of Western Avenue Methodist church 
discussed the probable reinstatement of the Eev. 
John D. Leek in the ministry, from which he with- 
drew because of the charges against Mrs. Lavender 
and himself. — Chicago Tribune ^ March 28, 1909. 



MINISTEES IN A EOW BOEDEEING ON A 

EIOT. 

That ministers of today, like the ignorant^ su- 
perstitious Christian fathers and Bishops of old, 
engage in intrigues, and controversies that are tur- 
bulent, and end in a condition bordering on riot, 
is shown by the following, which appeared in one 
of Chicago's leading papers: 

PASTOES IN EUMPUS; 

"DISHONEST/' IS CEY 

Dr. L. W. Munhall Thus Eefekred To in a 
Meeting of Methodist Ministers — He Eaps 
" Higher '' Critics — Charge by Speaker 
That Hearers Doubt Bible's First Words 
Brings on the Accusation. 
























I 




Dr. L. W. Munhall, of Germantown, Pa., 
author, traveler and public speaker, appeared be- 
fore the Chicago Methodist ministers' meeting in 
the First Methodist church toda}^ to attack higher 
critics of the Bible, and a big rumpus developed. 
The speaker was called "dishonest," and subjected 
to humiliating criticism at the hands of the as- 
sembled ministers in one of the most sensational 
theological rows in the history of that organiza- 
tion. The charge that he was dishonest came at 
the end of a turbulent meeting, which lasted more 
than two hours, and the greater part of which was 
absorbed by the speaker in a striking discussion of 
the subject, "The Book of Books." 

STARTS OVER WHALE STORY. 

The breach between Dr. Munhall and the dis- 
senting ministers started when he made the state- 
ment that he believed the story of Jonah and the 
whale, and by his citation of numerous species of 
sea monsters whose throats, he said, were large 
enough to swallow "a man and a horse." 

The charge of dishonesty was made in one of 
the aisles while the Pennsylvania visitor was shak- 
ing hands with some of his admirers, and in the 
presence of a reporter for The Daily News. 

The man who uttered the scathing accusation 
was the Eev. H. A. Warren, of the First Church 
of Harvey. 

"I say to you," said the Rev. Mr. Warren, "that 
in your implication that the Methodist ministers 
do not believe the first words in the Bible are the 
words of God you are dishonest." 























DR. MUNHALL IS CONFUSED. 

Dr. MunhalPs cheeks flushed red, he stared at 
the man who addressed him, and then, in a state 
of evident confusion, said: 

"You don't know what you are talking about if 
you say I am dishonest." 

It was Dr. Munhall's final statement at the end 
of a prolonged discussion on his address. His 
speech, which, according to his own estimate, had 
been delivered at the rate of 230 words a minute, 
was frequently interrupted with applause, and es- 
pecially when he flayed the higher critics and criti- 
cisms of the Bible, which he declared was the book 
of God. 

The point on which Dr. Warren attacked Dr. 
Munhall was the first sentence of the Bible, which 
deals with the creation. 

MAKES CHARGES OF DISHONESTY. 

"Dr. Munhall seeks to imply that we ministers 
do not believe the first statement of the Bible," 
said the Kev. Mr. Warren, as he passed out of the 
building. "In this implication I said to him he 
was dishonest." 

The signal for the conflict of opinion was 
brought about when a vote of thanks to Dr. Mun- 
hall was proposed by one of the ministers. In a 
moment the Eev. D. T. Stephenson was on his 
feet and protested against a vote of thanks. 

"If a vote of thanks means that we are appre- 
ciative of what the speaker had to say, I will vote 
for it," said he, "but if it is interpreted, as it has 
been in the past, that we indorse his views, I am 
opposed to it." 




m 







N'— '"^?; — 















Half a dozen men clamored for recognition in 
a moment, and the Kev. W. J. Libberton, who pre- 
sided, finally settled the subject by calling for a 
rising vote. The Rev. Mr. Stephenson was the 
only man who stood up as opposed to the resolu- 
tions. 

OTHERS JOIN OPOSER's RANKS. 

It was when the single opposing minister asked 
for a chance to explain his position that others 
present joined his ranks. Among these were Prof. 
A. W. Patten, of the Northwestern University, the 
Eev. J. H. McDonald, of the Epworth church, and 
the Eev. L. F. W. Lesemann. 

Prof. Patten spoke coolly and directed his re- 
marks to Dr. Munhall. 

"I want to thank Dr. Munhall for his eulogium 
of the Bible, and I thoroughly agree with him on 
that. But we can throw higher scholarships into 
the abyss of skeptics," he said. "We are not bat- 
tling with the skeptics who died 100 years ago, but 
against the evolutionists of today." 

DOES NOT QUESTION GOD's SPEECH. 

"From consideration of the facts in the case, I 
don't question for a moment that God speaks to 
us in the book, but I believe that God has used 
human literature and legends to illustrate His 
teachings," continued Prof. Patten. "We must 
get away from the idea that the Bible was edited 
in heaven and let down to us by a string. We 
must rather promulgate the idea that God has 
used men and human agencies to accomplish what 
























we find in the Bible. We cannot tumble the schol- 
arship of centuries into a chasm of unbelief/^ 

SAY UNIVERSITY WAS ATTACKED. 

Several volunteers in the discussions took the 
position that the speaker had directed criticism 
against Northwestern University, but this Dr. 
Munhall denied. Addressing himself to Prof. Pat- 
ten, he said: 

"I did not say a thing against Evanston. I did 
say that Evanston was a saints' rest, including it 
with Germantown, Pa., in the same class, but that 
is all I said. However, I will say this, that I have 
not been asked out to Evanston, but I have spoken 
at Princeton University, and they have more schol- 
arship there than you have in Evanston." — Chi' 
cago Daily News, Dec. 12, 1909, 










"The Immanence of God" 

"Know Thyself" 

"God [the Soul] and the Man" 

"The Book of Self" [God] 

"Faith" [The Primary Will] 

As Taught by "Jesus the Master" 

One Volumy, 432 Pages 

By DR. L. W. de LAURENCE 



Text Book" of 



"THE CONGRESS OF ANCIENT, DIVINE, MENTAL AND 
CHRISTIAN MASTERS" 



Ancient Jewish Scripture, Paulism and so-called Christian Theology, 
teaches that if you don't go to church you will go to Hell. 

Of course, any one would sooner go to church than go to Hades; but 

if you study this volume you will find out you don't 

have to go to either place. 

Don't listen to those who are dragging a dead theory or religion, of 

who shake their heads at the stupendous statements made here, 

for as a matter of fact, they themselves lack 

the very things this volume teaches. 

Address all orders to 

de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO. 

1514 Masonic Temple, Chicago, III., U. S. A. 



History of Auricular Confession 

AND 

Absolution in the Latin Church 

by HENRY CHARLES LEA, LL.D. 

J? Vols,, Large 8vo, Price Prepaid, $^.oo P$r Volume or $14.00 for the 
^ Polumes, Imported by de Laurence, Scott &- Co. 

There is no historical problem more important and more interesting than the origin and development 
of the power which the Latin Church has exercised, spiritually and temporally, in the evolution of mod- 
ern civilization. The student of European annals meets it at every turn; it is everywhere discernible in 
the present, and no statesman can forecast the future without taking it into account. Thus it is a ques- 
tion of the present, as well as of the past, and its investigation merits and rewards the most earnest 
labours of the student. 

No exhaustive attempt has hitherto been made to follow in detail and explain the growth of this ma- 
jestic power from its humble beginnings. This is the task which the author has undertaken, and he has 
endeavoured to treat it from a purely historical and impartial standpoint. To avoid prejudice as far as 
possible he has consulted no Protestant controversialists, but has confined himself exclusively to the 
original sources and to Catholic writers. He has spared no labor in examining the Fathers of the 
Church, the medieval schoolmen and chroniclers, the records of Councils and of the Holy See, and the 
writings of modern theologians and moralists, as well as the popular books of devotion which represent 
the ideas current among the people in successive ages. The work is therefore represented as a real con- 
tribution to history, religious and secular, spiritual and temporal, in which the reader will find laid bare 
the methods in which successive generations have sought to grapple with the most serious problems, as 
to life here and hereafter, that can present themselves to human intelligence. Every statement is veri- 
fied with a reference to authorities, and in the third volume fac-similes will be given of ancient and 
modern indulgences. The treatment of the subject may be gathered from the following abstract of the 
contents. 

CONTENTS OF VOLUME L 

Confession and Absolution. 



Chapter I. — Primitive Christianity. 
II. — Discipline. 
" III. — Public Penance. 
" IV. — Reconciliation. 
" V. — The Heresies. 

" VI.— The Pardon of Sin. 
" VII.— The Power of the Keys. 



Chapter VIII.— Confession. 

IX.— Enforced Confession. 
X. — Jurisdiction. 
XI. — Reserved Cases. 
XII. — The Confessional. 
XIII.— The Seal of Confession. 
XIV.— Absolution. 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. 



Chaptc 



XV. — Requisites for Absolution. Chapter 

XVI.— Public and Private Penance. 
XVII.— The Penitential System. 
XVIII. — Redemption of Penance. 

Index to Volumes I and II 



XIX.— Satisfaction. 
XX. — Classification of Sin. 
XXI. — Probalism and Casuistry. 
XXII. — Influence of Confession. 



Chapter 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME 
Indulgences. 

Chapter 



III 



I. — General Theories. 
II. — Requisites for Indulgences. 
" III. — Development. 

IV.— The Jubilee. 
" v.— The Later Middle Ages. 

" VI. — Application to the Dead. 

** VII.— The Reformation. 

*' VIII.— The Counter-Reformation. 
"JL work of great labour, bearing on every 
page the marTiS of wide research and of ex- 
iraordina/ry industry."— Academy. 

"He writes with complete detachment, bas- 
ing his researches exclusively on the original 
sources and on Catholic authorities, but sel- 



IX. — The Stations of Rome. 
X. — The Religious Orders. 
XI. — The Confraternities. 
XII. — Indulgenced Objects. 
XIII. — Modern Expansion. 
XIV. — Apocryphal Indulgences. 
" XV. — Influence of Indulgences. 

Index to Volume III. 

dom or never expressing opinions, at all events 
in the body of the work. The nvmber of facts 
he has brought together is amazing, and he 
quotes a multitude of authorities, especially 
the authorized records of the Councils them- 
selves, statutes of Synods, papal letters, cmd 
the like"— Times. 



de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO., 1314 Masonic Temple, Chicago, III.. U. S. A. 



FIFTY YEARS 



IN THE 



CHURCH OF ROME 



THE BOOK OF THE CENTURY 



BY FATHER CHINIQUY 

The Apostle of Temperance of Canada. 

Author of "The Manual of Temperance," "The Priest. The Woman and The 
Confessional," "Papal Idolatry," "Rome and Education," etc. 



A TIMELY WORK 

There is no book upon the Romish controversy so comprehensive as this. It is a 
complete picture of the inner workings, aims and objects of Popery. It is from the 
experience c f a living witness, and challenges contradiction. It is a large but very 
valuable work, and is fast becoming a standard authority. Two editions were sold in 
three months, and large orders are being received for the present and Forty-Fifth 
edition. The book commends itself to the American people, and to the lovers of liberty 
everywhere. To Clergymen, Students, Teachers, Politicians, it is an invaluable book of 
reference. Thousands have been sold in Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Sandwich 
Islands, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, India, and South America. 

** Its Revelations are Terrible Indictments of Popery." — Press. 



Vivid, Tragic and Fascinating in Interest. A handsome volume of 832 pages, 
printed in clear type, on fine tinted paper, and is bound in strong cloth, marbled 
edges and gilt stamp on side and back. Illustrated. Fine steel portrait of the author. 

Sent to Any Address on Receipt of Price, $2.50 



de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO. 

1514 MASONIC TEMPLE, CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A. 



The Double Doctrine of the 
Church of Rome 

By BARONESS VON ZEDTWJTZ 



First edition of five thousand sold in four months. A second 
edition of twenty thousand called for and now ready for sale. 



The Watchman says: 

"The impeachment of Rome in this volume, carries more weight than attaches to 
sensational attacks from less sober and reliable sources. This lady was from childhood 
trained in the tenets of the Roman Church ; she was an intimate of its high class expo- 
nents; she was one of the prominent givers to the endowment of the Catholic University 
of Washington. Her testimony is intelligent and authoritative, as well as candid and 
courageous." 

The Christian Advocate says: 

"The author of this book was formerly Miss Caldwell. She and her sister gave 
very large sums to establish the Catholic University in Washington. After a long 
residence in Rome, they came to the conclusion that the Roman Catholic Church is not 
entitled to the confidence of believers in Christianity, and they have demonstrated their 
sensibleness by incurring the odium and ostracism in Roman Catholic circles which is 
visited upon those who withdraw from its communion or are excommunicated. This 
work should be read several times. 



Neatly Bound in Boards, Beautifully Printed, 75 Cents Prepaid. 



Address all orders to 



de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO. 



1514 Masonic Temple, 



Chicago, 111., U. S. A. 



Popery and Sacerdotalism 

These WORKS ON ROMANISM imported by de Laurence, Scott & Co., should be widely 

read and distributed :it the present time, when the attention of the people needs to 

be awakened and KEPT AWAKE to the insidious encroachments of Romanism. 

Foxe's Book of Martyrs. With twelve full page illustrations and steel frontispiece. 
Handsome cloth bevelled boai'ds. gilt side and back. Price. $3.0U. 

The Catacombs at Rome. An exposure of the Corruptions of Romanism. Derived 
from the Sepulchral Remains of the Early Christians. By BENJAMIN ScoTT, F. R. A. S. 
Over 70 illustrations. Cloth boards. Price. $1.00. 

The Veil Lifted. The Romance and Reality of Convent Life. By Eliza Richardson. 
Cloth boards. Price, $1.00. 



Personal Experience of Roman Catholicism. Incidents of Convent Life. 
Richardson. Cloth boards. Price, $1.00. 



By Eliza 



The Pope: HJs Infallibility. Historical Researches. By General Dunne. Price. 75c. 
The Confessional. A Personal Narrative. Price, 30c. 



The Priest, The Woman and The 

Confessional 

By. FATHER CHINIQUY 
Author of " Fifty Years in the Church of Rome." 



FORTY-THIRD EDITION 



This book and 



300 PAGES. $1.10 PREPAID 

'Fifty Years in the Church of Rome " will be sent 
prepaid for $3.35 



The Secret History of The Oxford Movement 

BY WALTER WALSH 

With New Preface Containin^r a Reply to Critics. This Volume is not published 
in the United States but is imported by de Laurence, Scott & Co. 
Paper $1.35, Cloth $2.10. 



Chapter l. The Secret History of the Ox- 
ford Movement. 

Chapter II. The Society of the Holy 
Cross. 

Chapter III. The Secrecy of the Ritualistic 
Confessional. 

Chapter IV. The Secret History of ** The 
Priest in Absolution." 



Chapter V. The Ordei- of Corporate Reunion* 
Chapter VI. Ritualistic Sisterhoods. 
Chapter VII. The Confraternity of the Blessed 

Sacrauient. 
Chapter VIII. SomeOthoi- Ritualistic SocletieB. 
Chapter IX. The Koiueward Movement. 
Chapter X. The Romeward Movement. 
Appendix. What the Ritualists Teach. 



The Secret History of the Oxford Movement is a wonderfully instructive book on 
these Subjects, and will be sent on receipt of price. Address all orders to 

de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO., 1514 Masonic Temple, Chicago, 111., U.S. A. 



m 16 1909 



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